A free one-day community celebration will take place in Laugharne Castle on Sunday 31 October (2-5pm) as part of Cadw’s Cauldrons and Furnaces initiative inspired by the Cultural Olympiad.
One of the highlights of the day includes lighting the Laugharne Castle Cultural Olympiad Flame. For those who prefer a bit of retail therapy, a farmers’ market will showcase seasonal local food, including pumpkin soup, alongside a selection of local craft and community stalls.
Organised by Arts4wellbeing, with funding from the Legacy Trust UK, Cadw; Arts Council of Wales, Carmarthenshire County Council and Arts Care Gofal Celf, other activities planned for the day include performances by the Corran singers, pumpkin lantern carving and parade; apple, turnip and melon carving; apple bobbing; willow weaving; drumming and dancing; shadow puppets; storytelling and face painting as well as a range of children’s workshops.
The event in Laugharne is the start of a wider town-wide workshop-led project to create opportunities for people to interact with each other, learn old skills and to start to get ideas of how they too could be involved. The essence of the project looks at identity, where people have come from – connecting with their roots to develop a firm grounding for moving forward to the future. The ultimate aim being to create a significant, memorable and magical experience at Laugharne Castle in June 2012.
Workshops will explore a number of historical as well as contemporary themes from food, past and present to clothing, transport, currency, Tai unnos (one night house tradition), music, leisure and entertainment, making history relevant, expectations and life opportunities for young people, layers of history held within the castle, roots and wings as well as creating community banners to hang on the castle walls.
Clare Williams, Director, Cauldrons and Furnaces, said:
“The celebration at Laugharne is a fantastic way to celebrate and examine the history of Laugharne within a fun and family friendly environment. The event is open to people from the local community to participate in a wide range of free activities, designed to capture the imagination, plant seeds of ideas, re-kindle old skills and make time for new skills all within the sanctuary of the castle walls.
“This will be a tangible and multi layered historic experience and the start of a process leading up to London 2012, which I hope will involve as many members of the local community and local schoolchildren as possible to celebrate and re-define what history and community is all about in Laugharne and deliver a positive legacy for the town and its inhabitants.
