Press Release: Young poets celebrated in St Davids City

EcoDewi was proud to celebrate the success of young poets on the St Davids Peninsula who recently entered and won an environmental Poetry Competition based on the theme of “Shoreline”. The competition was designed to engage young people in local environmental issues and the Year 6 and Year 7 pupils from Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi VA produced some superb poems.

EcoDewi’s initiatives throughout the peninsula include, among others, promoting and planting verge-side wildflower meadows, organising Beach Cleans and coordinating eco-friendly land use projects such as Community Gardens, promoting Mini-Meadows with their Blue Heart campaign and the management of the Community Green Space at Maes Glasfryn in St Davids.

The poetry presentation was kindly hosted by the team at Oriel y Parc in St Davids. Three of the winners read their poems to the assembled company, in a confident and articulate manner, being of absolute credit to their school and parents. Guests included the Chair of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority - Dr Madeleine Havard, The Mayor of St Davids - Cllr Sarah Foster, St Davids County Councillor - Cllr Bethan Price, Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi’s new Head Teacher - Mr Siôn Mason-Evans, along with other teachers and of course parents and family members.

“It was great to engage young minds in a blend of art, environment and education on a local level, and all those who took part should be commended”, said Robert Kidd, one of the EcoDewi directors and judges for the competition.

Competition entries were judged by Amanda Stone and Robert Kidd, part of the team behind EcoDewi, and Ifor Thomas, an award winning Welsh poet and performance writer based in Solva. The judges were really impressed by the number of entries and real passion shown for the ‘shoreline’ theme. The winners of the competition were:

Year 6: 1st place - NikaL, 2nd place -  TobiasG, 3rd equal - SebF and BeckyM.

Year 7: 1st place - TobyR, 2nd equal - CatherinaA and FrazerC, 3rd place - RaeW.

EcoDewi would like to offer particular thanks to Dr Beynon’s Bug Farm, The Really Wild Emporium and St Davids Book Shop, who all generously gifted the prizes for the winners which had been awarded in school assemblies earlier in the year.

Community is at the heart of what EcoDewi does and it was great to see that Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi pupils and staff fully embraced the challenge of this eco-inspired competition. Their creative work is currently on display in the window of Oriel y Parc for all to see and enjoy. EcoDewi is looking forward to working with local schools again in the future and engaging young minds in artistic endeavours.