Children from Ysgol Cybi created of the dragon from willow frame to completed dragon, and on Friday 18 February at 9.30am they are visiting Ucheldre to see the finished dragon. In addition they will pose for photographs and to practice walking with the dragon ready for the parade on St Davids Day.
All of children from Year 4 at Ysgol Cybi were involved in making the sea dragon. A total of 64 children from two classes, taking part over 3 weeks, at the end of January beginning of February, in 6 workshops sessions.
Throughout the 6 workshops the children learnt about the art of willow carnival style lantern creation with Debbie from Wispy Willow Creations, a local sculptor in Llaingoch, Holyhead at the Ucheldre Centre, situated near Ysgol Cybi. The children learnt to use willow and masking tape to make a rough structure to then cover it in tissue paper and decorate with paint and varnish to finish.
It is hoped each year a different school will be involved in creating more fantastic sculptures for taking part in the parade.
Each workshop involved a different group of children, who all helped to create this giant sea dragon. It will then take part in the Holyhead ‘Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant’, ‘St David’s Day’ parade.
Whilst it it wasn’t much to look at first, it developed at pace over the past 3 weeks.
As many hands certainly make light work!
The last finishing touch are some much needed feet and claws, then it will be ready to parade through Holyhead/Caergybi proudly by it’s makers, the wonderfully enthusiastic children from year 4 at Ysgol Cybi.
Our dragon is a slight variation on the traditional ‘y ddraig goch’ ‘Welsh dragon’, rather taking the shape of a ‘draig y môr’ ‘sea dragon’.
Being mindful of the environment and being a sea dragon we wanted it to made from environmentally friendly materials, so the vast majority of the dragon was made from recycled and reclaimed wood for its internal frame, sustainably grown willow for the structure, recyclable cling wrap and biodegradable recycled tissue paper.
Visit: ucheldre.org
