Dragon Festival organizers respond to criticism
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Jeremy Clulow gets the ball rolling…
The “Heart of the Dragon” Festival this summer was a huge success. The people who made it a reality worked their butts off for two years - first of all developing the concept, then obtaining grant funding and then organizing the weekend of activities and festivities. We are all in their debt for showing true community spirit and commitment to their home town, especially in the face of negativity and skepticism from many people, including the majority of Town Councillors.
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The success of the festival would you might think have buttoned the lip of any residual whingers, but sadly that has not been the case. Someone was ignorant enough to suggest in the Cambrian News that the grant money obtained for the festival would have been better spent on CCTV cameras (Closed Circuit Television) and other projects for the town.
The Dragon Festival Committee took on the task of organizing a Dragon Festival. They donated hundreds of hours of their time to achieve that goal, and they succeeded. Anyone wanting CCTV is free to form a committee, research possible funding, make the application and get the dosh. We would all then applaud them for their hard work and application. What is totally unacceptable is to stand on the sidelines and carp about how other people’s money would have been better spent on your own pet projects.
Anyone who has got time to write to the newspaper to moan, has got time to write for grant application forms. Maybe then, and only then, they will realise how much work is involved, and how stupid - if not illegal - is the notion of spending even one penny of the money, obtained specifically for the Dragon Festival, on anything other than the Dragon Festival.
Below is the very measured and polite response (as always) from Pamela Gaunt of the Festival Committee to the coverage in the Cambrian News.
Pamela Gaunt of the Dragon Festival Committee
We would like to respond to the remark made by Phillip Lindsay ( in a Cambria News front page article on CCTV cameras) re funding for Newcastle Emlyn’s “Heart of the Dragon” Festival.We share his concern for wanting a safe, creative and healthy community in our beautiful home town. Which is why the Heart of the Dragon was born as an idea, grew into a reality and successfully gained funding from Heritage Lottery.
It is a very different approach to his focus on surveillance cameras, however, we believe, equally worthy of respect and support for its intent to bring a community together and potentiality to do good things for the town over years to come.
The three thousand people who attended the festival and the 700 people who learned about Newcastle Emlyns heritage in our community workshop programme…young, elderly, middle aged , Welsh, English incomers, and other nationalities… many different faiths and beliefs…all created an amazing harmonious atmosphere. The experiment in bringing our community together, (many of whom don’t normally meet nor engage with each other)… and bringing out the best in what we could create together spoke for itself in its success.
There were many visitors from all over Wales who had never visited Emlyn before…thus attracting interest and therefore business to our town.
We are not suggesting Heart of the Dragon project is a panacea for the issues of Mr Lindsays concern…the occasional bad behaviour in town, (especially if under the influence of too much alcohol) Nor for uncovering why a few people act out some expression which is disrespectful and distressing to others …However, perhaps we have to set role models and not so quickly diminish or swipe at each other if we are working hard for our community in other ways? Diversity of approaches for each others skills and work surely has to be held in a healthy community, if we want to move forward and away from the picture Mr Lindsay described of people living in fear of and hostility to each other?
(By the way, just to balance this description, some of us find Newcastle Emlyn a really lovely and safe town to be part of!)
If, as a town and a community, there is a way of thinking of ourselves as ‘we’ and ‘us’… rather than as very separate groups and individuals, (call them ‘youth element’ and ‘scared elderly’, as in Mr Lindsays article) or ‘Welsh / English’, Rugby/ Hanes Emlyn/ Attic Players/Dragon Festival etc… then any success by one of our town groups could be celebrated by us all?
That is the ambitious aim of our project…..to give an experience of feeling a ‘we’and ‘us’in our town and in our world.
And so we have birthed a new and ancient Dragon mythology which unites and connects people, to move forward from historical, political and religious divisions.
As well as working locally, we will also be spreading the story nationally and internationally over years to come… in this time of great challenge in the world to think of ourselves as part of, and responsible to a global community….rather than warring and competing enemies ignoring our shared environmental care.
But, going back to the adage ‘act local, think global’…to clarify the facts of our funding for Mr Lindsay and the ‘few others in town’ whom he says share his annoyance at our funding which ‘could have gone to surveillance cameras or the playing field to benefit the town over years to come’
Heritage Lottery is specifically for ‘community celebration and participation in its local heritage’.They do not fund in any way at all CCTV cameras nor park equipment. These are not their criteria.
Had we NOT worked as volunteers in the community to make a successful application (supported by over ten groups in the area) Heritage Lottery would have simply given their monies to some other town and community somewhere else….not to any of Newcastle Emlyns other needs. Our gain was not at the expense of, nor loss to any other worthwhile causes for the town…
Also our Heritage Lottery funding covers many things beside the two day festival…
- Workshops which have taken place throughout the community over four months in schools, youth clubs, homes for the elderly etc.
- A commemorative book to be devised by the community and eventually published and sold in our shops.
- A documentary film which will be used to promote the town
- A story trail and music CD to promote the castle and riverside walk both locally, nationally and internationally.
- A Heart of the Dragon Website to be set up to promote the heritage of Newcastle Emlyn
- The willow dragon which was made by the community at the festival and is to be used as an eye catching advert for Newcastle Emlyn.
- An education resource for all schools and groups in the area to encourage ongoing interest and use of our castle.
Heart of the Dragon arose around the story of Wales Last Dragon Being Killed, which is the towns unique and important history and mythology. We saw the battle re-enactment and mourned the loss at a spectacular Dragon Fire Sculpture on the first day of the festival. The story had demanded a new chapter, with over a hundred people finding the
Dragons Egg on a coracle floating on the river in midsummer 2006! The growth of that egg was well documented in the newspapers over the year. The magical hatching and
Birth of the First New Dragon of Wales was seen and celebrated by hundreds on the second day of the Festival.
This summer, the story has been told regularly to hundreds of people visiting Castell Henllys Iron Age Fort by storyteller Pamela Gaunt…and many are going away to look up Newcastle Emlyn town websites to see the photos.
Holiday makers have been spotted coming specially to the towns castle, saying ‘lets go down to the river where the dragons egg in the coracle was found!’.
The work and benefits for the town is only just beginning.
Outside the Heritage funding, Newcastle Emlyn and its story was represented at international events in Poland and Ireland, through a European culture exchange. …..an Irish child said ‘they wont kill the dragon this time if the children hold it’ and a white haired old Polish woman held the Dragons Egg and wished for wisdom to be born into the world through it. Most of this work was done (willingly and gladly) by ourselves as unpaid volunteers, acting as ambassadors for our town.
Sixty of our children, teachers and parents benefited from a free two days workshop of storytellers, musicians and crafts people working with us from Wales, Poland and Ireland.
We plan in the future to strengthen the European connections and make new international cultural exchanges by hopefully raising future funding to travel the Baby Dragon to promote the town and its story….and to get dragons from different parts of the world to come to future festivals in our town!
A longer term aim is to establish an International Dragon Centre in or near the town….
If you are interested in becoming part of the Steering Group or simply coming along to share your interest , skills or energy and seeing how you might become involved in Heart of the Dragon, then come along the first Tuesday of the month at 6.30 at Newcastle Emlyn Arms Hotel.
Thanks to Mr Lindsay for giving us the opportunity to explain more fully what we are about!
P.S. Eight of our lovely red, green and black banners were taken from the castle grounds overnight during the festival…if any of you reading this know of their whereabouts, we would love reassurance that either they are being put to very good use for the whole community or else we are giving a Dragons Call to please return them for us all to enjoy next time!! No questions asked….leave them at the Newcastle Arms Hotel, and perhaps you could let us know YOUR version of what is wrong in the town and what YOU think is needed to improve things…. and even how you might like to join in with Heart of the Dragon next time!
Best wishes, Heart of the Dragon Executive Committee
(contact Pamela Gaunt 01559 371427)
9 Responses to “Dragon Festival organizers respond to criticism” [latest first]
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M/s gaunt first mentioned to me the idea of a Dragon event about 12 months before the event took place, nothing had been concieved in 2005.
I wish to know, When is the commemorative book going to be published and by whom? Where can we obtain the documentary film and CD and when is the web site being done. Can we also be told where and when can the accounts for the public funding, ie the grant of £47,000 be seen? I do not think that any of the above will ever come to light.
The breakdown of expenditure was submitted to the Town Council. They seemed perfectly happy with it. I know, I was there. Have you asked any of the organizers for a copy? You obviously know Pamela Gaunt. The website http://www.heartofthedragonwales.org the commemorative book and the film are I believe in process of being produced and are discussed at monthly Dragon Festival Committee meetings. Your belief (or perhaps wish) that none of these items will every “come to light” is I believe baseless.
I expect them to deliver these items just like they delivered the Festival. I know it’s unusual for people to do what they say in this town, and even more unusual to do it with public spirit and generosity, but someone has to be the first!
Not everyone is aware that the finances submitted to the Council are for Public scrutiny. Unless it is placed somewhere prominent how would anyone know of the Dragon Website. Thankyou for the information, but I will await the other items listed with interest.
I have read the comments above from H. Morgan and the comment of 18 September together with Pamela Gaunt’s response to Mr. Linsay’s concerns in utter amazement. I must be extremely naive to think that the simple fact that a group of people voluntarily conduct an act of improvement for our town with no gain to themselves should be met with anything other than support and applause. After all it is not as if the organisers or additional members of this group have uncomplicated lives with plenty of free time to commit to such an endeavour.
Surely it is not difficult to comprehend that a grant for this kind of event would be from an entirely different source than that needed for security or even more sport based funding within the town. Has not the town already had sufficient funding for various sports and is it not the responsibility of the Town Council to address any need for community security?
Honestly, I do think that any tourists who attended the Dragon Festival, reading the comments by H. Morgan and Mr. Lindsay would be curious to know why members of our own community seemed determined to undermine the good work of the Dragon Festival committee, as do I.
In reply to E Hurford, we are not undermining anything, in fact the idea of a Dragon Festival is wonderful, it’s the amount of money compared to the very few that turned up is what is of concern. M/s Gaunt told me at one point that she was in communication with two hundred local schools? Where were they on the weekend, four or five seemed to have participated. I just feel that there is a great deal of exageration surrounding the whole event and having attended the festival I am at a loss to as to were £47,000 went to.
I am quite shocked at the level of hostility in H.Morgans comments….however I will choose to respond with the information required.
The gestation period of a creative vision, and the time and energy and work involved in manifesting that is a very long one…and I guess I know myself when that was conceived, which was actually about eight years ago..(rather than in conversations to inform, and involve people near the event).
Two hundred schools were contacted by Carmarthenshire Arts/Education Officer to tell the story and history of Newcastle Emlyn and inform about the festival. I have the name of who that officer was and of what and where this was sent if H Morgan wishes to see it.
The film premier is about to be advertised for a free showing on at Wed. Nov 28th at Emlyn Arms.
There have been press releases and radio news to invite people to collate and edit the book, which is scheduled to be ready next May, If H.Morgan (or anyone else) wishes to be involved in being creatively and constructively involved in this, contact Annette on 01559 370969. The story and music CD is similarly scheduled for May. Obviously, we are responsible to Heritage Lottery to monitor and evidence all of the things which we are being funded to achieve. If we dont deliver any part of the programme, we don’t receive the funding for them.
Regarding the accounts, if H Morgan wishes to see our accounts s/he could phone or email us and we could happily arrange for that to happen. As we did to inform the town council.
The website is currently being designed, and will be an ongoing development over years. http://www.heartofthedragonwales.org
The funding was based on an estimate of 1,000 people attending the festival and in fact around 3,000 did. Counted and written down by objective gatekeepers I still have the paperwork. Neither Heritage Lottery nor any of us thought of this number as ‘a few’ but rather were delighted at tripling our estimate and I thought I had explained very clearly that the festival was only part of the funded programme. I hope H Morgan comes to the film showing and enjoys it and introduces him/her self, as I don’t remember all of the hundreds of people I spoke to over the past two years.
I am also glad that s/he thinks the idea was a wonderful one. It will depend on there being enough goodwill, energy and interest from the town as to whether there might be any more festivals.
We’ll see where the Dragons fire wishes to next blaze! After we have professionally and competently fulfilled the Heritage Lottery programme that is.
I am so very disappointed by the continuing negative tone of the comments by H. Morgan. The fact that Pamela Gaunt has felt it necessary to respond to the petty commentry from H.Morgan saddens me. Where are we in society when something is attained for the good of a community only to have it broken down and discredited by an individual?
Why are you so concerned about the details of the distribution of the grant monies, H. Morgan? Where you equally concerned about the monies provided to the Town Council for various schemes? What about the monies spent on the development of the Castle meadow? How much money was spent on that development project? Where did it come from?
What have we been left with as a community? All I can see are some very over grown shapeless bushes, erractic concrete paving and some slightly above ground level metal plaques bent completely out of shape. It seems an unfortunate commentary on our town when something creative is conceived and created successfully can be so willingly damned and discredited by an individual with little or no purpose.
I thought last year’s dragonfest was excellent, and gave benefit to the community worth more than the £47k - which would have only been spent elsewhere had it not been applied for here. here’s a hypothetical question: “If nobody had applied for funding (and no festival took place) would h.morgan have thought to apply for funding for the lousy cameras???”
Coming from a place where there is an abundance of security cameras I can inform h.morgan that they make no difference to the well being and safety of the general public. Crime and anti social behaviour still abound. Cameras are no deterrent. The criminals know that if they do get caught they’ll only get a minimal sentence or a slap on the wrist.
Events like the Newcastle Emlyn Dragon Festival are sorely needed to bring communities together. People of all ages get involved in these events, they get a feeling of achievement and togetherness. This can only be a good thing in this day and age when many communities are being split up.
All those involved in the Dragon Festival, keep up the marvellous work.