In August 2018, Aberystwyth Community Ambassadors, a sub-group of Penparcau Youth Club, led by Ceredigion Youth Service, secured a grant of £700 through CAVO Ceredigion’s Youth Led Grant Scheme, to create an art sculpture for their local community in Penparcau.
The aim of the project was to work with a professional artist to create an eye-catching sculpture made of recycled materials. The group decided to create a chair in the shape of the Welsh dragon, which will take place in Penparcau park. The project was led by young people, from the bid writing, to creating the final sculpture. Ceredigion Youth Service’s Young Volunteers who sit on CAVO’s Youth Led Grant Panel also visited the project in action to learn more about how the funding had been spent.
The group created the sculpture chair with a social enterprise organisation, Splat Cymru. Splat Cymru is a Carmarthen-based organisation who support children and young people through art and technology.
Brandon Jones, a member of Aberystwyth Community Ambassadors said, “Aberystwyth Community Ambassadors is made up of young people from Penparcau Youth Club who aim to develop community engagement projects and fundraisers in and around Penparcau and Aberystwyth. We wrote a bid for CAVO’s Youth Led Grant Scheme and we were successful. We then worked with James and Zoe from Splat Cymru to design and create the sculpture. We want to place the chair in Penparcau park so it can be enjoyed by other children and young people.”
Lowri Evans, Ceredigion Youth Service’s Acting Principal Youth Officer said, “This recent project worked really well. The young people were responsible for every aspect of the project, from securing the funding to painting the final sculpture. The young people really enjoyed working with Splat Cymru, who delivered a fun, engaging and skill building opportunity for the group. The young people learnt how to create something new from used materials, raising awareness of the importance of recycling and reusing. We would like also like to thank CAVO Ceredigion for funding the project and enabling the young people to have this opportunity.”
Councillor Catrin Miles said, “It’s fantastic to see opportunities like these being offered to young people, enabling them to develop skills, socialise and discover new interests. It’s so pleasing to see programmes such as this continuing to develop to benefit the lives of young people”.
For more information about the work of Ceredigion Youth Service, visit their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram page @GICeredigionYS or visit their website www.giceredigionys.co.uk
04/02/2019