Four lucky winners from Pembrokeshire have won an award in the first ever national libraries competition – Express Yourself.
Fishguard Arts Society, Roch Primary School, Tasker Milward Secondary School, and Angela Hough of Clarbeston Road have each scooped £50.
‘Express Yourself’ encouraged everyone to show off their creative talents with a generic theme of ‘libraries’. Entrants could choose from a variety of arts including creative writing, dancing, drama, music, animation, painting, photography, drawing or sculpture.
Fishguard Arts Society won the Voluntary Group category with a film of the production of their work ‘Screen Shots’.
On a folding screen using collage, printing and applying monoprints and drawings, the Society encouraged people of all ages to drop in to a workshop to help make an exciting piece of work, much like a Victorian room screen.
The ‘Screen Shots’ were based on local places and people which could be researched at the Library. The Town Hall, which houses the Library, took pride of place.
The workshop took place at Ysgol Glannau Gwaun and the Society’s film showed the inspiration and work produced on the day.
The screen, with an accompanying exhibition, was then shown in the Library Gallery in October as part of the Big Draw, a national celebration of drawing.
Members also regularly use Fishguard Library for its excellent Arts and Crafts section as well as the small Library Gallery for various exhibitions.
Roch CP School’s Library Club won the primary school section with a pack of colourful, informative posters about how the library inspires them to read and how it helps them in school.
The club meets weekly, and enjoys activities such as reading games, book reviews, book posters, independent, paired and group reading.
Kerry-Anne Goodridge, Informal Learning Support Officer, who runs the club with volunteer parent Phillipa Thompson, said: “Reading is extremely important for children of all ages. It helps to widen their knowledge, improve grammar, vocabulary and spelling, improve vital language skills and is a way for children to research and learn new things.”
The club has recently been improved thanks to funding from Pembrokeshire County Council’s Community Focused Schools.
Tasker Milward School won the secondary school category with a selection of short stories and poems. Geoff Rich, Head of English, said: “The entries were the response of the students to a voluntary task – to take the idea of libraries and see how original their approach would be.
“I encourage students to enter competitions, especially those with a regional context, as I believe that having work scrutinised by impartial judges adds motivation. Over the past twelve months, 15 students have had work published.”
Angela Hough, of Clarbeston Road, and a member of staff at Tasker Milward School, won the individual category.
She produced a poster painted in acrylics welcoming people to public libraries. “I enjoy painting in my spare time and the competition appealed to me,” she said.
An exhibition showcasing the finalists’ work and all Pembrokeshire entries will be in on display at Haverfordwest Library Gallery in May.
All the local winners will be entered into the national stages, where 18 finalists will be invited to a special awards ceremony on 25th February with the chance to win £500.
Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones said: “It’s fantastic that so many people have entered – it just goes to show what a creative nation we are! I’m really looking forward to seeing the finalists’ work and presenting the prizes in February.”
The Express Yourself competition forms part of the national marketing campaign for libraries in Wales. It forms a central part of Libraries for Life, the Welsh Assembly Government’s strategy for libraries in Wales.
Councillor Rob Lewis, Cabinet Member for Cultural Services, Sports, Leisure and Tourism, said: “We were delighted with the response and had great fun judging the entries. Myself and the other judges, Councillor Huw George and Councillor Peter Morgan, were very impressed with the overall quality of entries and I’m sure we will be using some in future campaigns to help promote the library service.”
Neil Bennett, Head of Information and Cultural Services added: “Many people may not have thought about visiting a library before but we hope this has inspired people to rethink.”
