In 2016 Youth received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Music from the Music Producers Guild, and this is what they said about him:
One of the UK’s most consistent, credible and influential producers, Youth has been responsible for numerous hits from artists including The Verve, Embrace, Echo and the Bunnymen, Crowded House, The Orb, Sir Paul McCartney and The Charlatans. Among his recent projects was the co-production of Pink Floyd‘s final album, The Endless River. Released in 2014, this quintessential Pink Floyd album sold over 2.5 million copies in its first year. It debuted at No. 1 in the UK and in more than 20 other countries around the world including France, Germany, Canada and New Zealand. Youth also remixed David Gilmour‘s current solo No. 1 album, Rattle That Lock. By honouring Youth with an Outstanding Contribution Award, the Music Producers Guild is recognising an exceptional body of work that spans more than 30 years and has made a significant contribution to the success of the UK music recording industry.

You can hear an interview on our podcast ‘Druicast’ with Youth about how he manages to be highly creative himself and how he facilitates other’s creativity, and his relationship to Druidry, made during the 2016 OBOD Gathering in Glastonbury, when he received his Honorary Bardship.

Although Reid is known primarily for the deployment of Situationist strategies in his iconic work for the Sex Pistols and Suburban Press, the manifold strands of his art both continue that work whilst showing us other ways in which we can mobilise our energy and spirituality. It is this dialectic between gnosticism and dissent that lies at the heart of Reid’s practice and makes him one of the great English iconoclastic artists.
Jamie Reid’s unique vision articulates and gives form to some of the key issues of our times. He responds to the ever-increasing attacks on our civil liberties and shared common spaces with passionate anger and savage humour, and shows us ways in which we might re-organise our political and spiritual resources. This is the role of the shaman and Reid’s art acts like a lightning rod, returning us to the earth so that we might share the work of healing. His gallerist, John Marchant, writes:
“In 1997 I was asked to organise a full scale retrospective of Jamie Reid’s work in New York City. I’d never met Jamie before and as we started to get things together it quickly struck me how this was a man of conviction and wisdom, possessing a wide breadth of knowledge that encompassed social politics, esoteric sprirituality, astronomy, free jazz and Fulham FC. It was also immediately clear that this was a man who relished a collaboration – seeing what happened when the rein was loosened. That first exhibition was called Peace Is Tough. Over the years we have met in various parts of the world and Jamie has always charmed me with his modesty, honesty, integrety and talent.
Of course he is notorious for his work with the Sex Pistols in the mid to late-seventies, but there is so much more than this. His work with the Suburban Press was an early coalescing of his political drive and artistic ‘nous’ and his work after the implosion of the Pistols extended his artistic drive through many genres – music, publishing, performance. His work is a spectrum with many unseen hues and it is our pleasure to journey through these works in presenting and safeguarding the Jamie Reid Archive. After a ten year installation period with the Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch he is now immersed in discovering and revealing the Aspects of the Eightfold Year.”

Here is a video of the presentation John Marchant gave on Jamie at the Order’s Summer Gathering in Glastonbury in 2016:

For many years she sang at the Dutch Opera House. Her favourite opera roles were as Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and as Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. Through her music and stories from opera, which still resonate for us today, she tries to touch peoples’ hearts. She is currently in the process of producing her debut album, featuring many of her favourite classical songs, and artist friends who accompany her on piano and harp. Her website can be here.

Born in South Australia, Eric spent years working as a ‘bush artist’ in Aboriginal communities, learning about their notion of ‘songlines’ and ‘the dreaming’. Since living in Snowdonia he’s become familiar with the old tales and mythology of this land. Over this time Eric has also created Cae Mabon, a beautiful eco-retreat centre in Snowdonia, that the Order uses for retreats. Eric’s website can be here.

Barry started making & playing frame drums like the bodhran in 1990 and joined OBOD in 2002 after having been a guest speaker at a couple of wonderful camps. Some writing & news about his published works & other projects can be found on his website here.

Her books Tales of the Celtic Bards, Celtic Seasonal Meditations, and Maiden, Mother, Crone: Voices of the Goddess are inspired retellings of Celtic myth. Claire’s work has been described by Professor Ronald Hutton as a ‘complete bardic festival.’ Claire’s website can be found here.

Website: https://www.storiesoffeelingandbeing.com/

Esme Vincent was crowned an Honorary Bard of the Order in recognition of her artistry at the Mount Haemus Award day in Salisbury Medieval Hall in 2008.