| FORV Valley Arts Project 2009 |
| From April 14th -18th 2009 The Friends of Rhydymwyn Valley(FORV) hosted a Valley Arts Project at the Rhydymwyn Nature Reserve The project was planned by Sue Grundy on behalf of the FORV and thanks go to the following people for their input and help Professional Artist (Local)- Andrea Davies Professional Musician (Local)- Jamie Davies NEWW- Jacinta Challinor Publicity & Advertising (Local)- Donna Finegan Volunteer helpers on hourly basis-(FORV) Gareth Jones, Jean Jones, Jen Jones, Dave Williams, Malcolm Down. |
| The Easter Valley Arts project was planned as a continuation of last year’s successful Summer Arts project. Cadwyn Clwyd part funded the scheme and the rest of the cost was covered by FORV. Children from across Flintshire signed up for a week of mask making, costume designing and music composition. The children used Rhydymwyn Nature Reserve as a stimulus to design and create carnival costumes and create a musical piece to perform. The project began with a walk around the reserve.The children were shown the variety of animals which live on and around the reserve and collected natural resources to make into instruments and to use in their costume designs. The children designed masks in sketch books and chose materials and colours to use. They were taught how to construct the frames for their masks and costumes and made instruments of their own out of the objects they had collected. . Jacinta Challenor of NEWW designed a four panel collage to represent different habitats on the reserve and worked with groups of children to compose them of recycled materials throughout the week. The children also made plaster casts of the objects they found and added lyrics to the panel in both welsh and english The panels will be dated as a tribute to this year’s work on the reserve. A log found on the reserve was turned into an electric drum. The children were shown how to create rhythms and play instruments as part of a group. Some children had never played an instrument before but you would never have guessed. The children then learnt to put the rhythms onto instruments and moved on to create songs of their own and formed two groups. Caitlin translated the lyrics into welsh and performed the songs in welsh. The week concluded with a parade around the village with the children displaying their costumes and playing their marching rhythms. This was followed by a performance by the bands, S.O.S and Rock On of the songs they had composed. Followed by a BBQ at the Valley Site The children got so much out of the workshop. As well as skills and experiences they will not get elsewhere the social bonding of the group and firm friendships made have been of great value. As the village school is now shut and children do not necessarily meet this was an excellent opportunity for them to get together and form friendships. The whole group worked particularly well together. All children taking part were presented with a certificate at the end of the final day. . Discussions with parents, carers and guests during the BBQ confirmed that the project had been a huge success. They were pleased that the children had had such a creative experience in such beautiful surroundings and at the new friendships that had been formed during the week. Visitors to the reserve during the art week commented on how nice it was to see children playing and working at the Valley Site and that there was a lovely atmosphere and vibrancy about the place. Tthe Evening Leader came to visit the event and produced a half page article on 17th April. An article has also been written by Sue Grundy for the Chronicle for publication along with photographs. The costumes will be exhibited in the interpretation centre and will then be exhibited as part of a Flintshire incentive to utilise empty shop widows for displays. This will further promote FORV,NEWW, the Reserve and the Art Project. The event was a big success and promoted the versatility of the reserve. 16 children attended the workshops.11 for the week 5 on a daily basis It is intended that another workshop will be run in the Summer of 2010 |
| All articles and photographs on this page are Copyright © 2009-2016 Rhydymwyn and Hendre Group Community Website and/or Friends of Rhydymwyn Valley(FORV)-All Rights Reserved This page last updated 23//03/2013 |
