Jim Brown
    Returning to our Festival  this year, Jim will be hosting the Celtic Campfire Concert, Friday evening. He will also be Hosting the Poet's Breakfast Sunday morning. 
         In recent years Jim has branched out as a songwriter, and  performer of classic

Australian Bush Poetry and his own work, for which he has won several awards both in Tamworth and other competitions around .  The latest is the 2006 Bush Laureates Award Golden Gumleaf Award for recorded poetry.  This is the most prestigious poetry award in Australia.  
        Currently Jim is the State of Victoria’s Bush Poetry Champion, and has recently returned as a tour guide for  a  “Celtic Spirituality tour of Ireland”  to examine the roots of our music, culture and the Christian religion to understand how they all fit into our lives today.   I Jim has  performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, and the Tullamore Irish Festival.
 

Emlyn’s Harp 
      Michael Walker and Gwenda Davies form a harmonious duo with the blended sounds of guitar and harp strings, they  both share a Celtic heritage. Michael’s family heritage is Irish and convict Australian. Michael writes lyrics and music for Emlyn’s Harp. He also recites the best-known works of our favourite Australian poets - Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson, and is a great humorous yarn spinner. 
       Gwenda was born of Welsh and English parents. Since her teenage years her musical interests have gravitated toward singing Celtic songs with the harp. 
        Michael and Gwenda are both instrument tutors at Mitchell Conservatorium, Bathurst . Gwenda also tutors Celtic harp at Orange Regional Conservatorium. As a team they facilitate workshops assisting Celtic harp and guitar students to perform together with improvisations ranging from folksongs to twelve bar blues. 
        A recent Emlyn’s Harp highlight was a performance at the first Australian National Harp Festival, Adelaide .  The frequently requested Emlyn’s Harp CD recording is due to be released in 2008.