Past
Exhibitions
Pupils ponder the beauty of bluebells - May 2005
Local school pupils are taking part in an innovative biodiversity-awareness
project led by Glyncornel Environmental Centre and delivered in partnership
with other Council departments.
‘Bluebell Blues’is a curriculum-linked project that will
engage the pupils in aspects of science, geography, art and literacy while
giving them the opportunity to study this most beautiful flower in its natural
habitat.
“Due to factors like global warming and the widespread
loss of woodland due to urban development, bluebells need to be appreciated and
protected,” says Tim Orrell, Project Officer at Glyncornel. “Native bluebells
are also threatened by hybridisation with the Spanish Bluebell, which is
commonly grown in gardens but gets in to the wild if garden rubbish is dumped
there. The pupils have had great fun with the Bluebell Blues project -
identifying and studying bluebells and helping to produce a ‘bluebell map’ for
Rhondda Cynon Taf.”
As the project is supported by the Council’s Cultural Services’ Youth Arts
programme, the young people have also been working hard on art and poetry
competitions - both inspired by the beauty of bluebells - with prizes for the
best individual and class work.
A number of the schools involved in the project have been working with
professional artists Terry Chinn, Dianne Murphy, Megan Lloyd and Cyndi Ward and
with the writer-poet Robert Minhinnick to create work for an exhibition in the
Circle Gallery at the Muni Arts Centre in Pontypridd during Wales Biodiversity
Week in June.
Comments from the pupils reflect the way in which their beautiful surroundings
have provided inspiration:
"The bluebells are a sea of sapphires."
"The bluebells smell of marzipan and blackcurrant."
"The oceans of bluebells are a reflection of the sky.”
The following schools are taking part in the Bluebell Blues project:
Penygawsi Primary * Pontygwaith Primary * Ynyswen Infants * Newtown Primary *
Glanffrwd Primary * Cwmlai Primary * Treorchy Primary * Nantgarw Infants *
Coedylan Primary * Parclewis Primary * Miskin Primary * Y Pant Comprehensive *
Rhydfelin Nursery * Maesybryn Primary * Bryncelynnog Comprehensive * Penpych
Community Primary School
The project was supported by the Youth Arts Programme of Rhondda Cynon Taf’s
Cultural Services with Cymorth funding. The poetry sessions were supported by
the Welsh Academi, through the ‘Writers on Tour’ scheme. Cymorth is a Welsh
Assembly Government regeneration initiative for disadvantaged communities. It
provides a network of targeted support in order to improve the life chances of
children and young people from disadvantaged families.
The bluebell is one of Britain’s favourite flowers. In Welsh, it is called
Croeso yr Haf or ‘welcome to summer.’ Native bluebell flower heads are
one-sided, drooping at the tip with nodding, strongly scented flowers
containing cream coloured anthers. The flowers are a deep blue colour. Spanish
bluebells hold their flowers upright, all around the stem. The individual
flowers are faintly scented and contain blue anthers. The flowers are paler in
colour and can also be pink. The characteristics of the hybrids are half way
between the two.
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