The European Fire Celebration Project heats up at bonfire night in Swansea

The European Fire Celebration Project heats up at bonfire night in Swansea

Cyrenians Cymru hosted the first meeting of the European Fire Celebration Grundtvig Partnership project in November 2008. Partners from Tuejar (Spain) Izmir (Turkey) and Alborg (Denmark) spent a week in Swansea to experience the traditional bonfire night celebrations.

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

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 Guy is revealed as Dave Mullins in disguise	The Lantern Parade with the Guy leading the way

Project team members at the lantern workshop

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

The next partner meeting will be in Tuejar, near Valencia, in March 2009. The Fallas celebrations in Spain represent the biggest fire festival in the world, so they are expecting a spectacular event.

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 >>