The Whoops a Daisy Snowflake

The week before Christmas 2007 saw a performance of 'The Whoops a Daisy Snowflake' at St. Davids Church in Betws.

The lively workshops began back in November where the young people involved came up with the idea for the title and script. Rehearsals started straight away.

The play was performed by the young people of Betws to the community, who also enjoyed carols and mince pies. It was a fantastic night, putting all in the festive spirit!

Working with perpetrators of bullying

Following on from the Breathing Space project that ended in October 2005, our Cymorth funded project The Art of Inclusion continues to address issues of bullying in the Bridgend Borough. Working in partnership with the Bridgend Bullying Task Group and Bridgend Youth Offending Team, we have identified a need to work with the young people who bully others (as well as with the victims of bullying) and we have developed a series of one day workshops in local schools to address this.

Our Drama Development Worker Ali Franks has been running a programme of one day workshops in Bridgend Secondary Schools, working in partnership with The Youth Offending Team and with the young people identified by the schools as those involved in bullying others. These workshops use creative arts and drama to:

• Develop self-esteem and self confidence
• Develop emotional literacy and intelligence
• Provide basic listening skills
• Provide a forum where young people could examine the consequences of their behaviour
• Examine individual responsibilities

Many young people who bully are dealing with their own problems, whether they have been bullied themselves, are struggling academically, or lack self-esteem or confidence in some way.  Rather than just punishing these young people for their actions, we believe that when given the opportunity to explore though the use of creative arts their own feelings and their own responsibilities, and examining the consequences of their own behaviour, these young people will be given the chance to grow, to change and to move on in their lives.

The Art of Inclusion

May 2006 saw the start of a new Youth Arts Project developed by Valley and Vale for young people in Bridgend.

The Art of Inclusion has been funded by the Cymorth Fund from the Welsh Assembly and Valley and Vale will be working in partnership with Bridgend Local Health team.

The project has been working alongside young people in the Borough exploring any physical, emotional or mental health issues that are relevant to them. We used drama and forum theatre to explore these issues, and aiming to provide resources for the young people to continue the work after the length of the project.

The project has been working in schools and communities with young people in the Ogmore, Garw and Llynfi Valleys, as well in Pyle and Cynffig.

Back2Back Theatre Company

As part of the Art of Inclusion project we ran a Peer Education project at Ynysawdre School which was also supported by the Millennium Stadium Charitable Trust. Here a group of 15 pupils were learning to run their own forum theatre sessions around the topic of bullying. They then took these workshops to primary schools in the area where worked alongside Year 6 pupils about to make the scary transition to secondary school.

Back2Back Theatre Company worked with our Drama facilitator Ali Franks, exploring forum theatre techniques in creative workshops, with the aim of building their confidence and skills.