Project Name: European Fire Celebration

The European Fire Celebration project aims to introduce adult learners to the different ways fire is used to celebrate events in different countries and through this encourage participation in creative and traditional activities.

Cyrenians Cymru are a charity who support vulnerable people, such as the homeless. They received Grundtvig Partnerships funding for the project in Autumn 2008.

The first project meeting was hosted by Cyrenians Cymru in Wales in November 2008. Partners from Tuejar (Spain) Izmir (Turkey) and Alborg (Denmark) spent a week in Swansea to experience the traditional bonfire night celebrations, participate in workshops and cultural activities.

Highlights of the week included:

• An evening of traditional Welsh food and drinks at the Cyrenians Community Centre, superbly cooked and arranged by centre staff. 
• Lantern and pottery workshops and the creation of a giant mobile Guy. 
• Visits to the Gower Heritage Centre, Worm’s Head, the Museum of Welsh Life and Cardiff.
• Breakfast and an audio-visual screening of the project, held at the community centre, along with presentations to the oversees visitors – and an interview with national Spanish radio.

The pinnacle of the event was a parade of lanterns and the Guy down a Gower country lane to the bonfire and fire jugglers in the Down to Earth field.

The Guy in the dark	The Lantern Parade with the Guy leading the way

Most importantly the week provided a foundation of friendship between the partners that they hope will steadily grow over time.

Conrad Watkins, Director of Cyrenians Cymru, says the project has already "helped the adult learners of Cyrenians gain a new perspective on multi-cultural practices. For many of them, just meeting and working alongside people from different nationalities was a first time experience."

Project team members at the lantern workshop

Cyrenians Cymru found out about the Grundtvig programme when several staff attended one of our Lifelong Learning Programme Information Days in Autumn 2007. Conrad then went to a Contact Seminar event in Latvia where he developed the European Fire Celebration project idea and found partner organisations to work with.

Attending an information day is a really good way to find out about the funding opportunities available under the Lifelong Learning Programme. They are usually held in several locations across the UK in the Autumn. Contact Seminars are held across Europe on different themes and mostly take place in the Autumn aswell, although there are some earlier in the year. We publish details of these in our Events section.

Grundtvig Partnerships offer you the opportunity to work with other European organisations and co-operate on a particular theme related to adult education. Partnerships enable you to involve both your staff and learners in a European project - the benefits can be enormous!
Find out more about Grundtvig Partnerships >>