Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Urdd logo
WHEN it first began taking shape, the giant hillside triangle prompted plenty of social media buzz.
At first, when only the top white section was visible, locals quipped that Concorde had landed. Others wondered if Del Boy had crashed his hang glider.
Now complete, the massive structure overlooking Denbigh can be seen for miles around. A representation of the Urdd logo, it is designed to flag up the arrival of the organisation’s eisteddfod in the town at the end of May.
The event, one of Europe’s largest youth festivals, which usually attracts more than 65,000 competitors, is being staged at Kilford Farm on the town’s outskirts from May 30 to June 3. Originally due to be held there in 2020, it was postponed for two years by Covid-19.
The hillside “triban” measures 160 metres long and 60 metres wide – it’s the height of 36 double-decker buses stacked on top of each other. Its construction was led by retired teachers Bryan Jones and Cledwyn Jones, with the help of a small team of volunteers.
Bryan, a former technology teacher at Ysgol Glan Clwyd, St Asaph, marked out the triban with his son, Rhydian. Cledwyn, who was assistant head teacher at Ysgol y Creuddyn, Penrhyn Bay, said: “The hillside is six miles from the town and four miles from the Eisteddfod Maes and the way it’s seen differs from different places.
“Bryan placed hi-vis jackets at each corner and, from my home in Denbigh, I used a zoom lens to take photographs of the shape and see how they looked in perspective. After studying the photos carefully, Bryan returned and made the shape taller and narrower. From the Maes and the
town, it looks reasonably triangular!”
Complicating the project was the steep and undulating terrain at Kilford Farm. And even with the triangle’s outline successfully marked out, in-filling the shape was another challenge. Cledwyn and Bryan considered paint but rejected the idea.
“Apart from the expense of doing so, it would not have lasted very long,” said Bryan. “Maybe only a few days, and this needed to be in place for up to three weeks.
“We decided to use membranetype material that’s used on the Eisteddfod Maes. It’s quite an eco
friendly material and allows water to pass through.”
The team used tractors, trailers and quad bikes to take 180 wooden pallets up onto the hillside. These were painted and used to mark out the numbers “2022”. The volunteers used five large rolls of rope and more than 1,500 pegs to secure everything in place.
“Hopefully the hard work won’t be spoilt by the weather!” said Bryan.
Hosting the giant logo is Pendine Park care organisation proprietor Mario Kreft and his wife, Gill, who own the land and live in Denbigh.