YOURS Pupils enjoy culture visit to twin town

TEN youngsters from St Cenydd Comprehensive School visited Caerphilly county borough’s twin town Ludwigsburg in Germany to take part in a week of art and culture workshops.

Working with local artist Tracey Moberly, the youngsters jetted off to Germany, which for some of them, was their first time abroad, to immerse themselves in the German culture and learn a whole host of new art techniques. The group was made up of young people from Wales, Germany, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Brazil, Kurdistan, Iraq, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The youngsters stayed together with the other groups in a youth hostel and they communicated with the help of translators. During the course of the week, they had the opportunity to take part in a host of workshops which would provide items to be featured in an art exhibition and fashion show at the Karlskaserne.

As part of the project, the youngsters set off to tour the city, armed with iPads to capture images they felt inspired by. They focused on capturing specific colours and the images were pieced together to create large print fabric flags 2.5metres x 2m. In total, 12 flags were made using up to 10,000 photos of Ludwigsburg.

The group, accompanied by their teachers, also enjoyed some free time to try new foods including the German delicacy schnitzel, visit local tourist destinations such as Ludwigsburg Palace and spend time with the other groups sharing stories.

Pupil Jessica Martin said: “I enjoyed the experience and took so much from it. I particularly liked creating clothes for the fashion show and the new media project, taking pictures to make the huge flags.”

Nicola Webber head of geography, said: “The pupils were an absolute pleasure. I was so impressed with how they embraced every task they were given and made a huge effort to get to know the other pupils and try new foods. The work they created is outstanding and they were ambassadors for the school.”

Artist Tracey Moberly added: “The trip was a huge success. Everyone loved the work that we created. It is planned that the artwork will be used for the forthcoming 300-year anniversary of the city of Ludwigsburg in Germany.” fantastic