Merthyr Express column

6th Jan 11

Community Choir
Merthyr Aloud meets every Thursday from 1-3 pm. No experience is necessary, everyone is welcome to a warm and friendly atmosphere where songs from different musical traditions are taught by ear. For more details, please contact Natural Voice Practitioner Heather Murray on 01443 690289.

Poetry Competition
The 2011 Cardiff International Poetry Competition is now open and receiving entries. The first prize-winner will walk way with a cheque for £5000 for just one poem. Further prizes available are £500 for second place, £250 for third plus five runners up will receive £50 each. The competition is accessible to all; it doesn’t matter if you are an established poet or just dabble with verse now and then. Whether you’re from Merthyr or Malawi; Pwllheli or Portugal we want your poems.

The hard tasking of judging the 2011 competition will be down to mutli award-winning poets Don Paterson and Philip Gross. When entering make sure your poem is no longer than 50 lines, is unpublished, in English and not a translation of another author’s work and then send it to Academi with an entry form and payment. Entry fee is £6.00 per poem. The Cardiff International Poetry Competition is administered by Academi with the financial support of Cardiff Council.
Closing date is Friday, 25th March 2011. To receive an entry form, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Academi, CIPC11 Entry Form, Mount Stuart House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, Wales, UK, CF10 5FQ. For more information contact Academi: 029 2047 2266 / post@academi.org

Open Mic Night
The next Open Mic Night at the Imperial Hotel, Pontmorlais, welcomes poet and author Paul Groves on Thursday, January 13th at 7.30pm. Open Mic Nights are free entry, supported by MTCBC and Academi. For further information please contact: (01685) 725382 arts@merthyr.gov.uk.
Visiting author Paul Groves was born in Gloucester in 1947 and has lived in Wales and in the Forest of Dean. He has been a Gregory Award recipient and a major prize winner in numerous competitions. His work has appeared widely in magazines and anthologies, including Introduction 3 (Faber), The Bright Field (Carcanet), Burning the Bracken (Seren). He is a Creative Writing lecturer and Open College of the Arts tutor with over 30 years’ teaching experience. In 2007 and for an unprecedented second time, Paul won first prize in the Times Literary Supplement competition for his poem ’The Mauve Tam-o’-Shanter’. The prize was judged anonymously, with a reader ballot choosing from a shortlist of eleven poems. ’The Mauve Tam-o’-Shanter’ is included in Paul’s most recent collection Qwerty which was published by Seren in 2008. Paul also won this award in 1986, came second in 2001, and his poem ’The Hug’ was placed third in the 2008 competition. Over 3,000 entries were received worldwide.

Merthyr Express column

30th Dec 10

2011 Poetry Nights

Open Mic Nights at the Imperial Hotel continue in 2011 with Paul Groves on 13th January 2011 at 7.30pm. Open Mic Nights are supported by local award winning author Mike Jenkins who collects names on the night for those who’d like to join the guest author and read. The nights are free entry, sponsoured by MTCBC and Academi. Following Open Mic Nights for the first half of 2011 will be with guest authors and poets Phil Knight on 10th February, Mario Basini on 12th May, Paul C Evans on 16th June, Ivy Alvarez on 14th July and David Annwn on 29th September. For further information contact: (01685) 725382 arts@merthyr.gov.uk.

2011 Festivals
Festivals set for 2011 in Merthyr Tydfil include Zoom; Wales' International Young People's Film Festival, which will be taking place this February and March.
Zoom is a young people's film and media development programme which incorporates a major international festival of children's film and media, offering young people across the south Wales valleys an opportunity to work with others to create their own film and media projects. Through Zoom's activities young people can make new friends, develop new skills and comment on the world around them. For more information about Zoom visit; www.zoomcymru.com.
During the early summer Cyfarthfa Park welcomes back the Global Village Festival established in 2005 to celebrate and raise awareness of the cultural diversity and heritage of Merthyr Tydfil and has continued every year since then, with the addition of community workshops in selected locations for two weeks prior to the main event day, since 2009, thanks to funding from the Arts Council of Wales. Merthyr Tydfil Global Village is a constituted group of volunteers, committed to working with statutory and voluntary organisations and with individuals to promote equality and diversity within the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil. Global Village also receives funding from various sources for the festival day including MTCBC, Big Lottery, MTHA, Communities First and others, together with in-kind support from MTHA, Merthyr Tydfil College, MTCBC, Glamorgan Gates, Menter Merthyr, Bridges Into Work, WAG and others. The 2011 event date will be Sunday, 22nd May. One of the Global Village aims is to celebrate and raise awareness of cultural diversity.
June 2011 also welcomes back Bedroc; Welsh language music festival held in various locations in the village of Bedlinog, in the Taff Bargoed Valley. Past years have included ledgendary performers from the Welsh language music scene including Meic Stevens, Dafydd Iwan, Tebot Piws, Heather Jones and Bryn Fon together with many more including Merthyr’s very own Betti Galws. Details and performers for 2011 will be released closer to the date. For further information visit: www.merthyrtudful.com.

Live Music Now
Live Music Now’s 20th Anniversary Concert – Mapping Wales; will take place on Friday, 21st January at the Coliseum Theatre Aberdare. The concert promises to be a glittering celebration with performances by past and present musicians from the Live Music Now scheme including Craig Yates (Only Men Aloud), Dan Perkins, Sian Cameron, Ginge and Cello Boi, Lunar Saxaphone Quartet and Rhondda Cynon Taff County Youth Chorus. Tickets cost £10 for adults with £7 concessions. The evening starts at 7.30pm. For further information or tickets, please telephone 08000 147 111.

Volunteers wanted for Merthyr Hospital Radio

Merthyr Hospital Radio provides a range of radio programmes for the patients/staff and visitors at Princes Charles Hospital.

Volunteer broadcasters are needed for the hospital radio. Full training will be provided and no previous broadcasting experience is required. For more information on this volunteer opportunity as well as other opportunities in the borough please contact Karen Foley on 01685 353913.

Trefechan Communities First Partnership News

Thanks to funding from the Heads for Arts Programme and Trefechan Communities First Partnership, local community members have benefited from christmas arts train the trainer session. This passes on skills to key community members which they can then pass onto local community groups and residents. Representatives from Sandbrook House, Trefechan Nursery School, Communities First Partnership and Youth Club were in attendance at the event.

Thanks to partnership working with the Welsh national Opera and Trefechan Communities First Partnership local residents from Trefechan have been to see a dress rehearsal of the Magic Flute at the Wales Millenium Centre. Many residents had never previously had the opportunity to see an opera before and all enjoyed the performance.

Merthyr Express column

23rd Dec 10

2011 Calendar

Next year’s Merthyr Tydfil Calendar celebrates some of the creative talents of the borough, using the theme Poems and Pictures, featuring the work of some of the many Merthyr Tydfil artists and poets, including poetry by the award winning author Mike Jenkins, novelist, biographer and poet Anthony Bunko, Maggie Pryce Jones, Margaret Lloyd and Bernard Harrington, together with a host of other worthy poets. The images come courtesy of, amoung others, celebrated artists Robert Alwyn Hughes and Ron Jones, illustrating the strong bond both artists still have with the place where they spent their formative years (Dowlais and Aberfan respectivley), plus the work of many other painters, photographers and an embroiderer all of whom give us a colourful picture of Merthyr Tydfil borough over the years. The 2011 calendar is available now for £2.95 from central library.
(Image: The Swing, Aberfan by Ron Jones)

Head For Arts
Head For Arts, the eastern heads of the valleys community arts organisation are currently holding Welsh Harp classes taking place at the Canolfan Gymraeg delivered by Elin y Delyn, a Singing Group in Pen-y-Dre Youth Club through the Reach the Heights programme on Tuesday evenings from 4:30pm until 6:30pm on a weekly basis, led by Ian Saunders, and the 3Gs choir, also through the Reach the Heights programme, led by Gwyn Jones. The choir will be meeting on a weekly basis from December 2010 onwards. for more information on Head For Arts activities and events through out the eastern heads of the valleys (Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and north Caerphilly and Torfaen County Boroughs) email info@head4arts.org.uk, phone 01495 357816 or visit www.head4arts.org.uk.

Go Get StARTed
Go Get Started is an opportunity for emerging visual artists to exhibit across Wales. Submissions are invited from artists aged from 11 to 17 and 18 to 30 years old, who identify as a disabled or deaf person, or have special educational needs, or other access requirement and live in Wales. A panel of judges will choose the final pieces of work that will become a part of this exciting art project. There is no set theme and the closing date is 31st January 2011. Please send a copy or scanned image or photograph of the art work initially. For details of how to enter contact Project officer, Kate Hampton via email at kate@dacymru.com or post@dacymru.com or call her on 02920 551 040. Or search on Facebook for Go Get StARTed (for the English page or search Cychwyn Celf! if you’d prefer the Welsh version). Whose Flame is it Anyway is part of Power of the Flame, funded by Legacy Trust UK, managed by Arts Council of Wales and delivered by Disability Arts Cymru

Merthyr AloudMerthyr Aloud meets every Thursday from 1-3 pm (during term time). No experience is necessary, everyone is welcome to a warm and friendly atmosphere where songs from different musical traditions are taught by ear. For more details, please contact Natural Voice Practitioner Heather Murray on 01443 690289.

Merthyr Express column

16th Dec 10

Greenhouse Craft
Get a taste of Christmas this coming Monday, 20th December, with some free Christmas Crafts sessions for parents and children at the Cyfarthfa Greenhouses. You can make a reindeer plant pot or take part in some herb planting, from 1pm until 3pm. For further information contact Leanne Williams on 01685 722340.

Santa Crafts
A Family Christmas craft workshop will take place, with a visit from Santa Clause himself this Saturday, 18th December from 11am until 12pm, 12:30pm until 1:30 and 2pm until 3pm at Canolfan Cyfarthfa, the new visitor centre in Cyfarthfa Park. The cost of a session will be £3 per child. Booking is essential. To book a place phone Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery on 01685 723112 or email museum@merthyr.gov.uk

Chrismas at Treharris
Treharris Boys and Girls Club will be hosting a Family Night and a Christmas Fayre this coming week. The Family Night takes place this Saturday, 18th December, starting at 8pm until 11pm, with a bar, disco, food, and fun activities. Entry is only £2 per person by ticket only. Then on Tuesday, 21st December, there will be a Christmas Fayre from 2pm until 6pm, with a table top sale, Santa's grotto, food and stalls. The Christmas Fayre is free entry to the general public but contact the club if you would like a table (tables for the Fayre cost £3). For more information please contact Treharris Boys and Girls Club on 01443 410841.

Santa’s Real Reindeers

This Saturday, 18th December, Santa Clause brings his real reindeers and grotto to Merthyr Tydfil town centre before they prepare for Christmas. Entry to the grotto is £3 each where your child can meet Santa Clause and tell him what they would like for Christmas. Each child will get a little gift and a wallet size photograph with Santa Clause. There will also be the opportunity to see and stroke Santa’s reindeers. There is no pre-booking for this event which is run on a first come, first served basis. Please expect to queue for this event as time is taken with each child so they fully enjoy their experience with Santa. There will be no admittance to the queue after 3.30pm. The event takes place from, 10am until 4pm, at Lower High Street.

Ballroom and Latin Dance

A new Dance Festival comes to Dowlais in the New Year, with the Dowlais Ballroom & Latin Dance Festival on Sunday January 16th 2011. This will be the first dance competition of its kind to be held in Merthyr Tydfil, for juniors and adults nation wide. Adjudicators will be Lisa Darby from Caerphilly, Gary Foster from Willenhall, Brenda Gasgoigne from Halesowen and Michael Pharaoh from Llanelli. Richard Rose from Birmingham is Chairman and Robert and Janet Lowe from Pontypool are the Scruitineers. The venue will be The Catholic Club in Dowlais, which has one of the few remaining sprung maple dance floors in south Wales. Programme details available on the website of Dance Practitioner and festival organiser and presenter Simon Pearson; http://www.dancewithsimon.co.uk/.

Go Get Started / Cychwyn Celf

Go Get Started
A visual art project as part of Whose Flame is it anyway? Leading up to the celebrations in 2012.
Go get started is an opportunity for emerging artists to exhibit across Wales.
Submissions are invited from visual artists aged between 11-17 and 18-30 years old, who identify as a disabled or Deaf person, or have an SEN, or other access requirement and live in Wales.
A panel of judges will choose the final pieces of work that will become a part of this exciting art project.
Please send a copy/scanned image or photograph of the art work initially.
There is no set theme.
Closing date: Jan 31st 2011
For details of how to enter Contact: Kate Hampton (Project officer)
Email: kate@dacymru.com or post@dacymru.com
Tel: 02920 551 040
Address: Disability Arts Cymru
Sbectrwm, Bwlch Road, Fairwater, Cardiff, CF5 3EF
Or search on facebook for Go Get StARTed
Whose Flame is it Anyway is part of Power of the Flame, funded by Legacy Trust UK, managed by Arts Council of Wales and delivered by Disability Arts Cymru

Cychwyn Celf
Mae Cychwyn Celf yn gyfle i artistiaid ifanc i arddangos eu gwaith dros Gymru fel rhan o’n cynlluniau ar gyfer yr Olympiad Diwylliannol yn 2012.
Rydym yn gwahodd ceisiadau gan astistiaid gweledol rhwng 18-30 mlwydd oed, sy’n berson anabl neu Fyddar, neu â SEN, neu unrhyw anghenion hygrchedd, ac yn byw yng Nghymru. Bydd panel yn dewis y darnau o waith a fydd yn dod yn rhan o’r prosiect celf cyffrous yma. Does dim thema penodol.
Rydym hefyd yn gwahodd ceisiadau gan artistiad rhwng 11-17.
Dyddiad cau: diwedd Ionawr 2011
Cysylltwch â Kate Hampton, Swyddog Prosiect am fanylion.
Celfyddydau Anabledd Cymru, Sbectrwm, Heol Bwlch, Y Tyllgoed, Caerdydd, CF5 3EF.
Ffon: 02920 551 040
Ebost: kate@dacymru.com or post@dacymru.com
Neu chwiliwch ar Facebook am “Cychwyn Celf!”

Merthyr Express column

9th Dec 10

Poetry Launch
Heolgerrig author and poet Mike Jenkins will be launching his new book "Moor Music" this Thursday, 9th December at 7.30pm in the Imperial Hotel, Pontmorlais. Moor Music is a collection of open field poetry, published by Seren. The evening is free entry and will also include an Open Mic session, where contributors are welcome to come and read, sing or perform. MTCBC & Academi. For further information please contact: (01685) 725382 arts@merthyr.gov.uk.

Could You Be Billy?
The search is on throughout south Wales to find talented singers, actors and dancers to take part in a breath taking production by of Billy Elliot by award winning Retro Academy For Performing Arts Ltd. Following the enormous success of the Billy Youth Theatre 2010, the producers of Billy Elliot the Musical are delighted to announce that Retro Academy For Performing Arts Ltd from Aberdare have been chosen to participate in the second year of the countrywide scheme offering schools and youth groups the opportunity to stage their own production of this internationally award-winning show. Auditions will take place Monday 13th December from 5pm until 8pm, followed by a workshop day on Sunday 19th December. For an Audition Pack and to register your place by visiting www.retroacademy.co.uk or by calling Kieron Gough on 07949886556.
Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall, together with Martin Koch (Musical Supervision and Orchestrations), have adapted their original script and orchestrations to produce a shortened version of the show exclusively for groups staging local productions as part of the project. Billy Youth Theatre 2011 will involve participants from schools and established youth groups in England, Scotland and Wales, and to performers aged 10 -19 years.
Retro Academy For Performing Arts Ltd will be performing their Billy Youth Theatre production at the Coliseum Theatre, Aberdare in July 2012.

Family Christmas Show

Next Wednesday join Clwyd Theatr Cymru for a memorable and magical production filled with live music, song and the unexpected; a show for all ages with some Christmas magic for everyone. Award winning director and writer, Tim Baker has once again created a fantastic feast of family fun, exploring how Christmas is celebrated around the world. Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association have organised the event in association with the Night Out scheme and MTCBC Arts. If you enjoy great storytelling, live music and something a bit special, this is the show for you. The performance is on Wednesday, 15th December, at 6:30pm, at Pentrebach Cricket Club. Tickets cost £4 or £2 for concessions. For further information contact Bethan Thomas at Merthyr Tydfil Housing Association; bthomas@mtha.org.uk or 01685 352839.

Christmas Crafts
Family Christmas craft workshop will take place, with a visit from Santa Clause himself on Saturday, 18th December from 11am until 12pm, 12:30pm until 1:30 and 2pm until 3pm at Canolfan Cyfarthfa, the new visitor centre in Cyfarthfa Park. The cost of a session will be £3 per child. Booking is essential. To book a place phone Cyfarthfa Castle Museum & Art Gallery on 01685 723112 or email museum@merthyr.gov.uk

Merthyr Aloud
Merthyr Aloud meets every Thursday from 1-3 pm. No experience is necessary, everyone is welcome to a warm and friendly atmosphere where songs from different musical traditions are taught by ear. For more details, please contact Natural Voice Practitioner Heather Murray on 01443 690289

Noson gwis Nadolig, lluniaeth a 22/12/2010 389

Menter Merthyr Tudful

---

---

Digwyddiad i chi:

Dydd Mercher 22/12/2010 Am: 8.00yh

Yn: Gwesty'r Imperial, Pontmorlais, Merthyr Tudful, CF47 8UH.

Canolfan a Menter Gymraeg Merthyr Tudful.
Noson gwis Nadolig, lluniaeth a llawer o hwyl!

Am wybodaeth bellach ffoniwch
Swyddfa Menter Merthyr Tudful 01685 722176

---

---

---