Tag: choir

Categories
News

Festival of Ferns June 5th 2023 – everyone welcome!

NEWS

Festival of Ferns June 4th -5th 2023 - everyone welcome!

Festival of Ferns on June 4th and 5th

This event is set to be a real community celebration, marking the culmination of the Ancient Connection project as it draws to an end this summer.

Ancient Connection’s inspiration was the friendship between St Aidan and St David. The Festival of Ferns takes this theme and the many shared myths and legends and brings it to spectacular life with a parade of giant puppets, music, medieval enactments, local talent and more.

There will be a concert in St. Edan’s Cathedral from 7.30pm, featuring The Allabair Trio and Ferns’s very own Chord On Blues choir. Book tickets here

Expect to see a 12 foot St David puppet visiting from Pembrokeshire; a sea monster representing the crossing by St. Aidan to Wales and a giant beehive and a swarm of bees representing  St. Aidan departing Wales with David’s blessings and the founding of the monastery in Ferns by St. Aidan.  Expect all this and more in the Festival of Ferns Parade at 12 noon and weaving its way to the castle for a celebratory event.

The Horsemen of Éire will accompany the parade on horseback and dressed in
medieval costumes, setting the tone for the festivities to follow in the castle. Leading the parade will be Bloco Garman, a local Celtic drumming band. 

Want to get involved? Join in the workshops with artist Caoimhe Dunn. 

Find out more about this and what else is happening for the Festival of Ferns on Facebook 

or at Ferns Village Website

Categories
News Pilgrimage

Mini Creative Caminos in Pembrokeshire

NEWS

Mini Creative Caminos in Pembrokeshire

Saturday 20th May and 10th June

Two bite sized artistic dives into the essence of pilgrimage along the Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way with Ailsa Richardson and Suzi MacGregor

 

Saturday 20th May
(based at St Nicholas Village Hall)

landing your (wild)feet with Ailsa

paying attention is a form of reciprocity with the living world, receiving the gifts with open eyes and an open heart
(Robin Wall Kimmerer)

Ailsa will offer simple practices from her wildfeet toolkit to enhance presence, mindfulness and imagination. These practices draw attention to the many voices and multitudes of wisdom available to us in the environment/living world, and can be ‘taken home’ to enhance your own experience of walking and pilgrimage. This often means putting some of our habitual ways of responding aside to allow our kinship with nature and each other to arise more fully. We will playfully and seriously explore walking and writing, including different ways of paying attention, and including Ailsa’s particular approach to ‘walking with a question’.

Contact Ailsa ailsajr@btinternet.com

 

Saturday 10th June
(based at Llanrhian Village Hall)

Vocal Discovery and Song with Suzi

“Your voice is the soul, the self personified. We can manipulate it at will: soft whispers, seductive croaks, piercing, loud, demanding, loving, sweet, singing. But…the voice can become like a false smile: stuck and uncomfortable. So slowly, surely, stretch and challenge and explore your voice – it has the potential to encompass every expression.”

Using her vocal training, musicality and improvisation experience, Suzi invites you to begin an intimate enquiry into ‘voice’ – in response to our land and the essence of pilgrimage/camino. Camino translates as “the path” or “the way”, and Suzi has often found that the voice, and singing particularly, has been a path or a way to discover and deepen a relationship with yourself, with others, and your surroundings. This is a fun and inclusive workshop, for ALL voices. You can expect embodied vocal exercises, imaginative explorations of vocal texture and tone, sharing circles, some fun improvisation games, and singing heart-warming harmonies together in the wild! 

Contact Suzi suzinaomi@gmail.com

Cost – payment is on a sliding scale for each day £45-£90
or both workshops £80-£170, and please still contact us if the cost is unaffordable for you.
Categories
News Pilgrimage

Ffair Pererinion / Pilgrim Fayre at Bishop’s Palace St Davids

NEWS

Ffair Pererinion / Pilgrim Fayre at The Bishops Palace, St Davids

Monday 29th May – Pilgrim Fayre The Bishop’s Palace, St Davids 

FREE and a warm welcome to all!
 
The Pilgrim Fayre promises to be a special occasion on 29 May in the Bishop’s Palace, St Davids from 11am-6pm with a programme of performance, song, guided walks, a medieval marketplace, traditional skills demos and film screenings. It marks the achievements of the Ancient Connections project in Wales and the launch of Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, with a celebration of communities past and present and the historic and future links between North Wexford and North Pembrokeshire.
 
The Pilgrim Fayre day begins with St Davids Cathedral and Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way joining forces to lead a guided walk linking Saint Aidan and Saint David. The group starts with a musical send off by Côr Pawb and the Pererin Wyf / I am a pilgrim project, continuing along a path to the coast path and visiting St Non’s holy well. If you miss the morning walk, there will be chances to join micro pilgrimages around St Davids Cathedral throughout the day. Book your place on a walk
 
Span Arts’ choir Côr Pawb invites you to Y Canu Mawr / The Big Sing, a short programme of pilgrimage-related song performed in St Davids Cathedral. The event is part of the Pererin Wyf / Is Oilithreach Mé / I am a Pilgrim project and will culminate in a massed A Capella singing of the hymn ‘Pererin Wyf’ by William Williams, Pantycelyn. The concert will be live-streamed by the Cathedral. For more information about how to join in please click here
 
Small World Theatre is delighted to return with the giant puppet of Saint David and a new 6m-long sea monster in a procession with musicians and pupils from Ysgol Penrhyn. Join the merriment at 2pm in a Pilgrim Parade from the Cross Square into the grounds of St Davids Cathedral. Saint David will visit the giant bee skeps ‘Do the Little Things’ artwork by Bedwyr Williams, on his way to the festivities at the Fayre. Find out more about the skeps here 
 
A lively medieval marketplace hosts an array of exciting stalls showcasing some of the finest wares the area has to offer. There’ll be stalls selling delicious, award-winning food and drink too, made from locally sourced ingredients. There’ll be mischief makers, meandering minstrels and holy relic sellers and surprise pop-up performances. Details about the medieval marketplace and what’s on offer coming soon.
 
Experience traditional crafts and skills used to build the Bishop’s Palace and St Davids Cathedral. Join Tywi Centre crafts people in their marque as they share their knowledge of historic buildings and demonstrate decorative plasterwork, carving stone, thatching, traditional window making amongst other things. Find out more here tywicentre.org.uk
 
Enjoy the impact of the Ancient Connections project through a programme of films screened in the vaults of the Palace. The films feature artists’ and community commissions from Wales and Ireland. A list of film screenings and film makers coming soon.
 
Finally, gather round for open-air concerts with ancient music from Wales and the Celtic nations performed by renowned folk musicians Julie Murphy, Ceri Rhys Matthews and Jess Ward. A perfect musical accompaniment to a magnificent celebration in the impressive, historic setting of the ruined Palace.