- 07/02/2011
- Posted by: Joyce Watson MS
- Category: Feature
Local Assembly Member Joyce Watson AM has paid tribute to local school children for their recent work to spruce up Harlech station.
Her praise for Ysgol Ardudwy is included in the Communities and Culture Committee’s report on access to art and culture in Wales.
Discussing imaginative ways to involve more people in the arts, Mrs Watson said that she had:
“seen an excellent example of using the Welsh baccalaureate creatively in Ysgol Ardudwy in Harlech, which worked with Arriva Trains Wales and transformed the station, involving young people in art.”
She held them up as an example for other Welsh schools to follow, saying:
“Rather than reinventing the wheel, Minister can we not use the wheels that we already have on the wagon? The Welsh baccalaureate might be a real opportunity, as has been demonstrated in Harlech, to present a real invitation and an opportunity to young people to use the arts in their communities alongside others.”
(Item 250, p 74, The accessibility of arts and cultural activities in Wales, Communities and Culture Committee, National Assembly for Wales
Students from Ysgol Ardudwy and Coleg Harlech with members of the Harlech Women’s Institute (WI) gave Harlech train station a facelift last year, and Mrs Watson visited to celebrate the completion of the renovation work last July.
The artwork at the station includes a mural of the Druid story of the Birth of Taliesin which was designed by Helen Barlow, a student at Coleg Harlech. WI members swept the platforms at the station, planting flower tubs and encouraging students from Ysgol Ardudwy to join in the painting.
At the time Mrs Watson said: “It is great to see such community engagement and I think the work completed by the group is fantastic. It is always heartening to see residents taking pride in their local community and I am hopeful that the group’s dedication can spread to the wider community.
“I am also encouraged by the close working relationship which existed between the WI and Ysgol Ardudwy in completing this work; such co-operation should be replicated not only in Harlech but across Wales as a means of boosting community cohesion.”
