Made in ........... (Part I & II)

......... I. Weston and II. Roath

....... I. Weston

What have Cranes, Donkeys, Gulls and Made in Weston in common?

.... find out as I made a visit to a Somerset Town on a coach trip in August ....

On arriving at the Promenade as the coach dropped us off... there were three distinctive features that one noticed .. the gleaming new pier that had been built and was expected to open any day to replace the old one that burnt down in 2008.

Secondly was all the donkeys on the beach awaiting the attention of young holiday goers eager for a ride on the beach.

Thirdly was the distinctive island out in the bay which I soon learned was Steep Holm, an island that can also be seen from the South Wales coast especially from the Penarth cliffs.

We had a number of hours to discover the place, so we soon set off along the seafront with the idea of getting to Breen Down a headland to the west of the town and dominating the bay.

Here from the aquarium ... a donkey eyes view shows the new pier off to the left and the Weston Super Mare eye which every major town and city seem to have now. Yes and the Donkey .. yes this donkey had a sign asking children to refrain from climbing on it ... unlike the ones on the beach .... and hey look at all those colours ... this is quite an artistic donkey!!

We did not get as far as Breen Down instead making exploration of a nature reserve at Uphill. The dominating feature were the cliffs which were in fact the back drop of an old limestone quarry with a limekiln at the foot of the cliffs to extract the lime. The top was dominated by a church, which on further exploration was derrelick save for the impressive tower.

Returning along the promenade I

was impressed with the Carters Steam Fair Ground rides to be seen.

A specialised fair with restored vintage steam fairground rides.

Onn the left can be seen one of the pair of yachts that form the 1921

Steam Yachts and is the only remaining travelling in the world.

As I made exploration of the east end, I was also impressed with this designed causeway across the beach so that as the tide retreats it leaves this safe beach and area of water while the other side of the causeway is the thick mud of the inland estuary.

http://www.madeinweston.co.uk/

I spoke to one stall holder, Nina she had a fine variety of work for sale from colourful designs and local landscapes on cards and paintings, and jewellery. Her stall was very colourful and she was obviously enjoying the opportunity that Made in Weston was offering her. It is always interesting to see how other artists are developing their creative ideas and work!

My final find was this market put on by Made in Weston, with stalls of local artists displaying and selling their wares to the visitor. I would have liked to have spent more time looking and talking to the local artists! .... but our coach was departing shortly!

European Crane re-introduction on the Somerset Levels

The European Crane was once a native species to be seen on our shores but has been extinct for 400 years due to our hunting of them and also the demise of their natural wetland habitat. Over the last three years their has been a joint project by the WWT Slimbridge, the RSPB and the Pentsthorpe Trust. For the last three years the WWT has had what they have billed as a "Crane School" at their Slimbridge centre where eggs have been hatched and then the Crane have been reared by staff dressed to resemble Crane and taught all the behaviours needed by a crane from fur aging for food to taking walks to give their limbs exercise!!

This year a number of eggs brought over from Germany have been reared in a similar manner in readiness for their release into the open on the Somerset Levels. This release which is going to be an onward project for the next three summers is being done in the hope of re-establishing the species in our countryside.

You can read more about the project and its progress at: http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge/crane-school-2010

European Crane captured at WWT Slimbridge on a recent visit.

II. ..... Made in Roath

Last year I very much enjoyed this new community event, based in Roath, the area of Cardiff where I reside. It was a very homely event with many people opening up their homes to allow local artists to display their work and a number of workshops including a Watercolour challenge on the sunday which I took part in.

This year Made in Roath is on the weekend of the 15-17th October and I hope to be more involved this year, including exhibiting some of my work on Wetland birds at Roath Park ... quite appropriate I think!! ... Come along to see which pieces I display!

http://madeinroath.com/

And ..... Finally

I have recently enrolled to study AS level Art here in Cardiff and my theme can be seen quite clearly in this picture taken on the promenade at Weston Super Mare ... can you guess the Theme ... stay tuned in to hear more!

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