THE latest community news from Borth

Arts

APRIL will be a busy, but exciting, month for Borth Arts, a group of artists living and working in Borth and Ynyslas, with a new exhibition and its first community event.

For the past two years now, Borth Arts has wanted to arrange an event in Borth that anyone from the village would be welcome to participate in.

Many different ideas were discussed but, eventually, it was decided to organise a ‘Scarecrow Festival’.

As the aim of the Festival is to involve the village in a fully inclusive community event, the theme for the festival is ‘Community’.

At the start of the year, groups, organisations and individuals were visited to assess the level of support and to discuss the idea fully.

The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Several villages throughout Britain hold this type of festival annually.

Groups, families, individuals, etc. make a figure of a person or creature, known in the festival as a ‘scarecrow’, to illustrate the theme.

The figures are then exhibited around the village at a given time with a trail map provided to show the locations of the scarecrows.

Borth is also adding its own twist – there will be a roaming ‘Guerrilla Scarecrow’ to watch out for.

The festival will take place between 20 and 23 April, with Ben Lake MP selecting the prize winners on the afternoon of Saturday, 21 April.

Everyone who views the scarecrows will have the opportunity to vote for ‘The Peoples’ Choice’.

The Scarecrow Festival is being sponsored by Borth Carnival Committee and supported by Nisa and the Family Store in Borth, where the trail maps are available.

Following successful exhibitions at Oriel Q, Narberth and Mid Wales Arts Centre, Caersws, Borth Arts are exhibiting as part of the HAUL Arts in Health project, in the Dining Room Gallery at Bronglais Hospital.

HAUL, a group of arts and health professionals, offers arts activities and artworks throughout Ceredigion to health support groups, day care centres, hospitals and any health setting, to promote health and wellbeing.

Borth Arts’s new show, ‘The Sea, The Sea: Y Môr, Y Môr’, supports the Welsh Tourist Board’s ‘Year of the Sea’ initiative.

The exhibition showcases the artists’ response to the sea and their surroundings, with the outcomes being as varied as the artists themselves.

Using a variety of media and techniques, this diverse group is connected by the unique environment of Borth – beach, mountains, colour, light and, of course, the ever present and ever changing sea.

Artists exhibiting are Gabrielle Adamson, Bodge, Molly Brown, Stuart Evans, Sadie Everade, Linda Henry, Peter Jones, Neil Johnson, Sue Lee, Martine Ormerod, Ruth Packham, Marie Pierre, Sarah Pugh and Eve Smith.

‘The Sea, The Sea: Y Môr, Y Môr’ runs from Monday, 9 April to Monday, 9 July in the Dining Room Gallery at Bronglais Hospital.

If you’re a member of a club, society or group, send your news to [email protected]