Newcastle Emlyn and Adpar / Castell Newydd Emlyn ac Adpar

Heart of the Dragon CD to be launched at Newcastle Emlyn Castle
Wednesday July 16th 2008 6 to 8pm

Download event flyer as PDF
Download event flyer as RTF/DOC

The story so far…

Last year saw two and a half thousand people descend upon the small market town of Newcastle Emlyn, on the Carmarthenshire / Ceredigion border.

This place - where local legend tells the Last Dragon of Wales was killed - was destined to bring history and legend alive and right up to date!

The Heart of the Dragon Festival was held at the castle next to the beautiful River Teifi, with its cascading whitewater leat and riverside path.

The two day event, funded by Heritage Lottery, wove together a Medieval Market Fayre, Storytelling, Drama, Music and Dance pieces created by the local community, along with a Dragon Procession through town, of schools, youth groups, elderly and middle aged! Guarding the castle, a Copper Dragon from Rhyader and a Giant Metal Dragon - made locally by people with special needs - joined a Portuguese Water Dragon in celebration.

A dramatic Giant Dragon Fire Sculpture ensured the spirit of the Last Dragon was well honoured in the dark of the evening…and marked the place where a new history was to be born…

Hero Prince of Wales, Owain Glyndwr, historical revolution leader, fought a battle at the castle in 1403. His Red Dragon Flag flew to reclaim it from the occupiers…

The legend tells of the tragedy of this short lived resistance.

Appearane of the Dragon’s Egg…

However, mythology and history came full circle, when a Giant Dragons Egg mysteriously and magically appeared in a coracle on the river behind the castle on Midsummer Eve 2006.

Thanks to the children of the town guarding and protecting it in a nest in a shop window, it had grown to a giant size over the year and had been taken to people of Poland and Ireland for their good wishes.

This Giant Egg took pride of place at the Heart of the Dragon Festival and it was with great relief and satisfaction that a new Baby Dragon, the first new Dragon of Wales, was born at 2pm on Sunday July 8th 2007!

Beautiful, green and gold and very sleepy, as we all sang a lullaby for its welcome.

The first appearance in 2008…

So now, after being carefully guarded over winter, Baby Dragon is making its first appearance at the castle at a summer evening picnic on Wednesday July 16th 2008 from 6pm to 8pm.

You are all very warmly invited to come along and catch a glimpse of Baby in its magical Dragon Mobile Nursery.

We will share our food and drink, and listen with Baby Dragon to the wonderful music, songs and stories from the festival, recorded on heart of the dragons first bi-lingual CD called ‘Yn y Dechreuad / in the beginning’.

The CD blends mythology with place and history, and music ranging in styles from a light summer fayre dance to an epic Dragon World creation piece, a gentle lullaby and a stirring Dragon Anthem called ‘Red and Green’.

Artists and musicians, (including international jazz singer Maggie Nicols who is musical composer and director, and storytellers Pamela Gaunt and Haydn Jones) are all local talent, some professional and some volunteers from within the community.

They will be available to sign copies of CDs should you want to buy a copy to take the experience home and hear many times over…who knows, maybe Baby Dragon will give a claw print autograph…

Rumour has it even Owain Glyndwr may make an appearance…

Please come, listen to the stories, relax, dance and sing…

And don’t forget your picnic!

Following their success in the Goodyear “Tyred Playgrounds” competition and the children’s fun day, the King George V playing fields committee is asking people to get involved in another fund raising exercise. Committee member Fiona White explained:

“The Newcastle Emlyn play park has been short-listed as one of the 12 finalists in the Carmarthen Journal and Barclays Bank £5,000 community makeover competition.

“Each week from 11th June until the 9th July 2008 the Carmarthen Journal will print one token worth 100 points. The winner is the project that collects the most points. Closing date is 22nd July 2008.

“To help us win, all you need to do is collect as many tokens as you can, ask all your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues, and then attach them to the voting panel printed in the Journal on 9th July and send them to the Carmarthen Journal.”

At several collection points around the town, tokens can be dropped off and they will be delivered on your behalf.

• Ysgol Y Ddwylan,
• Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn,
• GS News,
• Dewi James Butchers,
• 1 Emlyn Square,
• Little Jems,
• The Candy Box

A promotional poster/leaflet can be downloaded here

Resignations

At the Playing fields committee meeting following the recent fund raising successes, three long-standing members of the playing fields committee Alan Jones, Peter Lewis and Bill Lacey, resigned. The committee is actively seeking new members to help move their campaign forward.

Saturday’s Childrens fund raising fun day added a further £2,378.83 to the playground refurbishment fund which was boosted earlier in the week when the Town won £10,000 in the Goodyear “Tyred Playgounds” competition.

Jennifer Jones, Sue Tabbitt, Town Cllr Fiona White,
Drikje Vingerhoert and County Councillor Haydn Jones
display the £10,000 cheque from Goodyear.
(Click image for larger version)

Cllr Fiona White of the playground committee said:

“I would just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their amazing efforts on Saturday and I am very pleased to confirm that the total raised was £2378.83! Well done everyone! Here is the breakdown of how the money was raised.

“So many people have commented on what a wonderful day it was, full of happy people with a lovely community feeling and it was only possible to achieve this due to the 200% committment from everyone who made yesterday possible, not only on the day but all the hard work that went on behind the scenes to organise it. So once more thank you!”

 

A “Children’s Fun Day” in support of the refurbishment of the King George V Playing Fields Playground is to be held on May 31st 2008.

You can download a printable copy of the colour poster below in English or in Welsh . Or you can download a printable black and white flyer.

Congratulations all those who voted to nominate our playground. We have now been short listed in the competition to receive the £10,000 grant to refurbish a needy playground. Even if you have already voted to nominate our playground, please vote for us again in the main competition starting Tuesday May 6th.

The winner will be the playground with the most votes, so the Action Group and King George V Playing Fields Committee are urging as many people as possible to vote for our playground by following the link below and clicking the link showing the percentage total for our site. You will need to register with the website in order to vote.

www.mygoodyear.co.uk/buddyZone/

Posters asking people to vote for our park are being put up around town. If you would like to display one or put one up at work, please email Fiona White at nce.actiongroup@btinternet.com

Please get your family to vote too, or send your friends our
special electronic postcard with pictures of the playground and a request to vote.

Thanks!

For late breaking news, please go to the comments section at the foot of this page.

Photos of the play area

Campaigners for improvements to the play equipment on the King George V playing fields in Newcastle Emlyn have expressed disappointment at what they claim are misleading and negative articles which have appeared in the current editions of local newspapers ‘The Tivyside’ and ‘The Carmarthen Journal’.

The articles were written following ill-tempered exchanges between Town Councillors at their monthly meeting last week. The Councillors were not aware of the good progress being made by the Action Group and Playing Fields Committee and some made very negative comments. The Tivyside newspaper did not contact the organizers to ask for a campaign update before publication of its article.

Sue Tabbitt

Sue Tabbitt of the Action Group explained to Newcastle-emlyn.com that:

“The Action Group is now working closely and proactively with the King George V Playing Fields Committee (of which I am a member), to ensure that we are all working together for a rapid resolution to this ongoing problem of a lack of decent outdoor play facilities for the children of this town.

“Members of the Action Group have now joined the Playing Fields Committee and Fiona White, now a Town Councillor, now attends meetings and is working closely with us on tracking down new grants to apply for, and on filling in the forms very comprehensively.

“We had a very successful Bingo Night at the local sports club earlier this month (early April) which was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and more are planned.

“The Fun Day** will make full use of the Playing Fields and aims to make a big splash, with bouncy castles, an auction of promises, and loads of child-oriented activities (face painting, crafts, etc). A big feature of the day is that Playworld UK, a firm which makes and fits playground equipment, is coming down, free of charge, with laptops and images, so that the town’s children (of all ages) can participate proactively in designing their own ideal playground, to make them feel more involved, and so that the town can see what the new playground could look like if the funds come in this year.

“We urge everyone to support come and support the event, and this important cause.”

Sue Tabbitt has written to the Tivyside newspaper to correct their article.

**The Fun Day referred to above will take place on Saturday 31st May, between 10am and 4pm, at the current playground site in Newcastle Emlyn on the King George V playing fields, next to the central car park. All are welcome; there will be activities for all. All funds raised go directly towards the new playground.

The Children of Ysgol Y Ddwylan in Newcastle Emlyn received a grant from the environmental group Action Earth recently. Last Saturday they constructed a willow tunnel in the grounds of the school. The children have already won the coveted Green Flag status as an Eco School by recycling, composting and being particularly aware of wasting resources.

>
Click for larger image

They are also involved in the campaign to make their town a plastic bag free zone. The grant from Action Earth was to help them improve their surroundings with sustainable, natural play equipment. Year 6B had already built a willow dome and the tunnel is a fantastic addition. The tunnel was planted and woven by a team of volunteers. The Eco Committee would like to thank everyone who helped and particularly Action Earth and Morrisons for their support.

You can leave a comment on this story at the foot of the page

A group of mothers of young children have called for urgent improvements to the play area in Newcastle Emlyn’s “King George V Playing Fields”. They have described the play equipment as “unsafe, and a disgrace to the town” and plan to take their children to a play area in Llandysul (8 miles away), if Newcastle Emlyn’s facilities are not upgraded by the summer.

Fiona White, a spokeswoman for the group, said:

“The equipment doesn’t meet with safety regulations. It is broken and dangerous. How the Town Council website can say, under amenities, it “boasts” a children’s play park is a wonder to me! It’s not something I would boast about!

“The slow rate at which the playing fields committee has raised funds over its 28 year history has simply not been sufficient to maintain or replace the equipment. The situation is now desperate and a lump sum is needed to make real improvements.

“We feel that the community which pays already through Council Tax together with the revenue the car park must generate, should not be chased year after year to buy raffle tickets, when the target amount to be raised is so far beyond our reach. After 28 years, the community is naturally very disheartened and sceptical about whether anything will change if things continue to be tackled as they are. Having a decent, safe play area for the town’s children is a basic right, yet in Newcastle Emlyn it is simply not being met. With Government targets to tackle obesity and the sedentary lifestyle many families slip into, surely this is the perfect opportunity to make a difference in our town.

“The Chairman of the Playing Fields Committee has told us that an application has been made to the National Lottery Fund, but a successful outcome cannot guaranteed so we have written to Carmarthenshire County Council asking for support. They have been helpful but say it is not their responsibility and pointed us towards “Fields In Trust” for ideas.

“We have decided to try and move things forward by starting an action group and organising a petition. This will show any funding body that the strength of community feeling on the issue. I encourage everyone to sign the petition and give us their thoughts on how to proceed.”

Downloaded the petition for printing

• Download petition in Acrobat (PDF) format
• Download petition in Word (DOC) format

The action group can be contacted at nce.actiongroup@btinternet.com

Photos of the play area

The 30 minute film commissioned as part of the Heart of the Dragon Festival this summer was premiered on Wednesday November 28th 2007 at the Emlyn Arms.

Many of the guests were photographed as they entered. Their photographs can be viewed below.

“Apologies to anyone I photographed but their pic doesn’t appear. The lighting was very poor and I had to rely on slow exposures, which meant that some were blurred.” - Jeremy Clulow

Click image below to view gallery in pop-up window
Close window to return to this page

A YouTube preview of the film will soon be available along with details of how you can buy it on DVD.

Here are a few other pictures of the event.

Plaid Member of Parliament for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr (which includes Newcastle Emlyn) Adam Price has won the British Computer Society’s first award for the best Parliamentary website.

Adam’s bilingual website was selected as overall winner and considered to be “an outstanding example” of the very best incorporation of the three qualities:

• Design
• Engagement
• Accessibility

Judging of all MP websites was undertaken by BCS President Professor Nigel Shadbolt and key political journalists including Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail, Patrick Wintour of the Guardian, Michael Kallenbach of UK Press Gazette and - to ensure broad appeal to all ages - Matthew Darroch Thompson (aka Webster) of The Oldie Magazine.

Click to visit website

Because accessibility is vital in engaging people with disabilities, all sites were also appraised by AbilityNet, the national charity that helps disabled adults and children use computers and the internet by adapting and adjusting their technology.

In response to the award Adam commented:

“I am delighted to have won this. I am very proud that the efforts we have made to ensure that I am accessible to my constituents have been recognised. In today’s digital age people want to be able to raise their concerns in many different ways. We have two full time offices that anyone can just pop in or phone and the next step was to allow people to use the internet. It has been a fantastic way of interacting with people and has really helped me tackle some of the major issues in Carmarthenshire.”