Bio Bands Competition

Bang the Bins, Blow the Bottles, Tinkle the Tins, Rattle the Rubbish

We are looking for schools, youth clubs and aspiring musician to take part in our Bio Bands competition. Each band will perform and be judged by the audience and head judge Roger Williams MP at the Big Skill/Sgil Mawr 2010 which will be held at Penpont Estate on Saturday 18^th September. There will be an ongoing

workshop from 10 a.m. up until lunchtime. The competition will then start at 2 p.m.

Bands or musicians are to make their instruments from a range of recycled items.

Recycled items will be supplied to form a Bio Band with materials made from waste bins to bottles, hub caps to bags.

Let your imagination run wild and rock with the rubbish for the chance to win up to £100.

The most musical, most innovative and most visually pleasing will be awarded prizes. The workshop will be hosted by OJ Kryptic & Jimi Love

At the Big Skill (Sgil Mawr), try a Rural Crafts & Skills event at Penpont Estate 17^th – 19^th September you can try a rural skill in the Green Man Maze, join a craft workshop in the newly converted stables, cast a fly in the River Usk, learn a woodland craft in the Forest Garden, have a go at cider making in the Walled Garden, get on board the recycling drive, picnic on the lawns whilst basking in the autumn sun, laugh at the Friday night comedy & imbibe the Saturday night music. This is the first year that Sgil Mawr/The Big Skill is being held at the prestigious Penpont Estate in Brecon. We expect to receive around 1000 visitors which is a brilliant opportunity for stall holders as there will be a great amount of advertising for the event due to raising awareness of this festival. The coverage on our website and Facebook pages will help no end to smaller companies with little recognition. We are sponsored by Glasu, The Tudor Trust, Stanley Bligh and the Brecon Beacons National Park, SDF. The main aims of Sgil Mawr/The Big Skill are to attract people into the Brecon Beacons and surrounding areas, develop and promote Rural Skills and Crafts by allowing visitors to try a craft and buy your products. We expect the majority of visitors to be families so there will be a wide range of ages present to enjoy and buy products. By collecting details of rural crafts & skills workers we will create a directory of craftspeople in the Beacons and Powys area for future events and marketing. The Penpont Estate has vast grounds and stallholders have the option of holding their stall outside or undercover with access to electricity if needed. Due to the limited space inside places will be allocated with needs and application date taken into consideration.

Events & Courses 2010

“Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow” Tom Jones & Harvey Scmidt)

If you follow the signs to the fields & woods of Penpont Estate, Brecon, next September you’re in for a big surprise – Squil Mawr – the Big Skill, Rural Crafts & Skills event. 17^th 19^th Sept.

Try a rural skill in the Green Man Maze, join a craft workshop in the newly converted stables, cast a fly in the River Usk, learn a woodland craft in the Forest Garden, have a go at cider making in the Walled Garden, get on board the recycling drive, picnic on the lawns whilst basking in the autumn sun, laugh at the Friday night comedy & imbibe the Welsh music on Saturday.

For more details contact 07854625140   01544 340212 or visit the new website www.workingruralwales.org 

We hope to see you before then at the ‘Made in Wales show’ at Mountain Centre, Libanus on 7^th 8^th April.

Working Farms Courses starting Jan/Feb:-

Gardening at Buckholt, Monmouth; WRVS Riverside, Hereford; Ysgubornewydd, Brecon.

Cooking at Talgarth.

Felt Making, Glass Design, Videoing, Monmouthshire

Working Horses & Dry Stone Walling - Kingswood

Gardening  – Gardens-Tidy (Brecon); Tidy-Gardens (Hereford) - give us a call!

 For Sale: Wooden Waste Recycling Boxes; Lazy Bags (potatoes) Garden Cloches, Hen Houses.

 Old & New Friends please join us for some Christmas cheer at the lottery funded

Ysgubornewydd Veg Plot. Brecon. LD3 8LE  

Thurs. 17^th December 11.a.m. for food and drink.

Events in 2010 –

Rural Crafts & Skills Weekend, Penpont Estate, Senybridge. 17^th – 19^thSeptember.

£70 for a stall (or provide a 1 or 2 hour workshop for us?). £20 for a weekend ticket (includes trying 3 skills and comedy Friday night & music Saturday night); £24 inclusive weekend camping ticket.

Made in Wales, Mountain Centre, Libanus, 7^th, 8^th April. £35 for a stall.

On Nos Galan Gaeaf, Annie & Casper two Dutch Draught Horses, brought over from Holland in July, helped turn over a new organic plot and signal the start of a new project at Ysgubornewydd Farm, Brecon. LD3 8LE. to be used for those excluded from work.  Over 60 people turned up to watch the event, recall when they used to work with a horse and plough and pass on their memories and expertise to those who were borne long after the use of the old ways had passed. Half the audience had a go at ploughing a straight furrow, with ages ranging from 11 to 87.  Besides a most educational and enjoyable day the ploughing recruited volunteers who want to be involved with the project which will provide work, accredited training & healthy produce for individuals normally excluded from the workplace.

Now having fenced off the area and with new funding from Awards for All to develop the site we are holding Christmas welcome at 11.a.m. on 17^th December – hopefully in our new Cooperative Community Fund poytunnel. Hope to see you there – for soup, jacket potatoes, mince pies, marshmallows!

Also we hope to see you next September at Penpont Estate, Sennybridge at the Working Rural Wales RURAL CRAFT and SKILLS WEEKEND. The event will provide a Range of Crafts on display and a range of Rural Skills & Crafts for individuals to try, associated workshops, recycling in action, as well as Welsh comedy & music in the evening in the newly converted barns.

Dry Stone Walling,  Fencing, Shire Horse Ploughing, Animal Husbandry & Tracking, Bee Keeping, Hurdle Making, Bodging, Horn Carving, Walking Sticks,  Wild Foods, Thatching, Fly Fishing, Duck Decoys,  Wheelwrighting, Blacksmithing, Farrier, Whittling, Willow Work, Basketry, Clay Ovens, Glass Workshops, Felt Making, Spinning & Dyeing, Weaving, Cooking, Cider Making, Art, Photography, Sheep Care , Divining, Coracle Making. Plus-Recycling in Action. Rural Comedy Club–Friday evening, Music-Saturday evening. Contact us for prices & details of stalls or running training, or trying a craft ticket & camping,  or advertising & sponsorship.

BAKE & TASTE cooking courses, Hereford & Abergavenny; CREATIVE WORKSHOPS in photography, felt making, glass design & farm visits in Monmouth/Caldicot area;  TIDY-GARDENS help in Brecon & other areas; DRY STONE WALLING course 27^th 28^th July, TEAM BUILDING horse care & dry stone walling course; WALLING & FENCING TASK FORCE for farmers. 

Thanks to BBNPA Sustainable Development Fund, ESF Hereford Community Grant, Tudor Trust, Monmouthshire Social Services for their funding.

Volunteers are being sought to work with a new farm diversification project in Powys – looking after crocodiles and after six months preparing, freezing and cooking them. Working Farms (part of Powys Sense Limited) are looking for volunteers to work on a new social enterprise in the Brecon Beacons National Park raising Australian Crocodiles to compete with the chicken market. Co-ordinator Trevor Stringer says that we are looking at the venture as an environmentally friendly project to bring food to your table and produce BBNPA Crocobags. We are applying to OCN Wales to get the course accredited. We are holding a series of taster days when volunteers will be given the chance of working with the newly imported crocodiles. Protective clothing is provided and although everyone is welcome it is recommended that only those who are physically fit and able to run fast turn up for the taster days. (Note: For those concerned about close contact work, canoes are available for hire.)

Further details contact Working Farms, c/o Docile Reactors, Floorpail Farm, near Aber Village, Talybont-on-Usk. Powys.

Trevor Stringer 1^st April 2009

Experienced Gardeners & Cooks wanted for a few hours a week in Talgarth, Abergavenny & Hereford to help individuals normally excluded from work achieve a healthier lifestyle.

Develop a Healthier Lifestyle with Working Farms.Following on from the successful Monmouthshire County Council Community Enterprise Scheme and the WCVA Social Risk, funding from Tudor Trust has meant that we can now offer a full package for a Healthier Lifestlye.
We have a diet of outdoor activities, training, qualifications, healthy food and rewarding work designed to change your lifestyle and leave you healthier and fit for work.
From healthy outdoor activties on a farm, to training in Dry Stone Walling, Hedge Laying, Fencing, Horse Care, Cooking, Horticulture and Sheep Care or growing fruit and veg or a cooking course at a local drop in centre, or gaining a mentoring qualification – 2009 is the year that Working Farms can help you change!

Thanks to Monmouthshire County Council Community Enterprise Development Scheme; WCVA Social Risk Scheme; Rural Community First NEXUS grant we are able to offer placements and training courses in Fencing, Dry Stone Walling, Horse Care, Hedge Laying as well as a range of other OCN courses, in Powys, Monmouthshire & Herefordshire.

The project is a farm diversification project, designed to use under-utilsed rural skills for those disadvantaged in the job market.

Transport, Refreshments, Protective Clothing are provided.

Look forward to seeing you.

Trevor Stringer

Working Farms Monmouthshire, funded by the County Council’s Community Economic Development Scheme (CEDS), will be launched by David Davies, MP at lunchtime on Friday 13^th June at Middle Ninfa Farm, Llanellen, Abergavenny.NP7 9LE

Twelve farms, plus 3 community projects are being targeted to provide placements for 36 individuals, who are normally excluded from the workplace.  

Whether you can provide a farming placement, or would like to visit a farm, or are interested in working or training as a mentor then please come along between 11.30 a.m. – 1.30 p.m. to Middle Ninfa Farm to learn more or just come along for a chat and free refreshments. This could be the luckiest Friday 13^th you have ever had!

Although the project and launch is open to everyone the parking for the actual launch is not as parking places are limited! So please car share or ring Trevor on 01544 340212: 07932 426435 for a lift.

Thanks again to Unltd, Social Risk, Laura Ashley, RCA Monmouthshire & GAVO’s Grass Roots who have funded previous activities of Powys Sense & Working Farms