Penarth : Skytown Gateway

I’m several months late to the party but today I’d like to celebrate the fact that this year Penarth has gained a new public artwork, and, though I think it fails in its aspirations, I rather like the piece itself. 

You might, justifiably, wonder how the Vale of Glamorgan Council managed to fund something like this given the financial challenges of the current global pandemic. In fact, this was part of the development deal, the obligations negotiated under the Section 106 agreement, when Council granted planning permission for the Penarth Heights housing development. 

The Skytown Gateway sits above the central entrance to Dingle Park, on Windsor Road in Penarth. According to the Council’s website, the park’s ‘entrances and boundary railings were considered to be unsightly’ so were ‘identified as requiring an upgrade in order to provide a visually impressive, exciting and high quality gateway into the town.’ A well-meaning sentiment perhaps, and the railings do look much better since they’ve been refurbished, but neither the lower nor upper entrances to the park have changed at all and they are, in fact, the entrances that get most use. And, though I do think the gateway artwork is impressive, its effect as a town rather than a park gateway is lost by its position immediately adjacent to a roundabout, which drivers of passing traffic are, hopefully, concentrating on negotiating rather than glancing around at the scenery. Also, as there is nowhere nearby to park, visitors to the town are unlikely to stop to admire the artwork, so as a ‘gateway into the town’, it fails. 

As a ‘visually impressive’ gateway, though, I think it’s a winner, and the makers, a company called Cod Steaks from Bristol, have done a great job of capturing the character of the town. The Council website page about the Skytown Gateway project includes a link to a report from Cod Steaks on their creation process, including consultations with the local community and workshops with local school children to develop the ideas behind the finished artwork. It’s interesting to note that their workshops initially focused on the local flora and fauna, as you might expect from a gateway to a park, but the end product refers only to the built heritage of the town with no reference at all to the natural environment, a missed opportunity but presumably a deliberate decision by the Council. 

As you can see in my photographs, the gateway includes references to many well-known local buildings and to the town’s maritime history. Residents will recognise St Augustine’s Church, the Penarth Pier Pavilion, the former public swimming baths, and the old Custom House, as well as generic terraced houses and a town house, the town clock and the lamp standards that run along the Esplanade. From the surrounding maritime landscape, there are the lighthouse on the island of Flat Holm and the Pink Shed, formerly used for yachting race officials, that sits on an arm of the Cardiff Barrage, and a tug boat. And representing local tourism and recreational facilities, the artwork includes a yacht and a caravan. 

The Cod Steaks project report notes that the artwork has been constructed from over 4000 pieces of precision-cut steel, finished with blue paint, and includes low-level LED lighting within the buildings, which must look quite lovely at night – I have yet to visit in the evenings so have no visuals of the ‘diffused, charming glow’ of the lighting effects. When I do get some photos, I’ll add one or two to this post.

Doors: Christmas wreaths

As I’ve been meandering around the local streets in recent days, I’ve been delighted to see how many people have decorated their front doors with lovely Christmas wreaths, some the more traditional arrangements of woven greenery adorned with ribbons and natural objects like cones and seedheads, others presenting a more modern take on these ancient twistings.

 

The word wreath comes from the Old English words writha, meaning ‘to writhe’, and wrīthan, meaning ‘to make into coils, plait’, which, over time, has become the circle of twisted materials we now recognise. However, the concept of a wreath goes back long before the Old English words, perhaps as far as our pagan ancestors, though the earliest historical references come from Ancient Greece. Green crowns of laurel feature in Greek mythology and, in both Ancient Greece and Rome, wreaths of laurel, oak, olive and other leaves were awarded to the heroic and to victors in athletic contests and in battle, as well as being worn by priests officiating at sacrifices and by brides during their weddings.

 

The idea of a Christmas wreath seems to have developed around the same time as that of the Christmas tree, perhaps as a way to make use of the excess trimmings of those trees. The tradition of having a Christmas tree in the house is believed to have originated with the Germans in the sixteenth century and to have been introduced to Britain by Prince Albert after his marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840, though at least one historian disputes that account. Alison Barnes writes on the History Today website that it was ‘“good Queen Charlotte”, the German wife of George III, who set up the first known English tree at Queen’s Lodge, Windsor, in December, 1800.’ (Barnes’s article also gives more information about the first German Christmas trees.) 

 

Returning to the Christmas wreath, its circular shape is thought to have a Christian meaning, the never-ending circle a  symbol of eternal life (though it’s also an easy shape to create and to hang). And the use of evergreen foliage is thought to have been equally important, symbolic also of immortality and, during the harshest days of winter, of hope for the spring to come.

 

Whatever the meaning we each choose to attribute to the Christmas wreath, there can be no doubt that they are an important, often colourful, always welcoming addition to our doorways during the festive season and, in these dark, depressing and devastating days of global pandemic, they are a feast for the eyes and a welcome source of good cheer.

It’s a sign: Covid-19

I count myself extremely fortunate this year not to have contracted the coronavirus, and feel nothing but sincere sympathy for the millions who are currently having to cope with illness, the grief of losing a loved one, the anxiety of employment uncertainty, the despair of this ongoing global pandemic. 

Here in Wales, we have been living with lockdowns and restrictions of various types since mid March, and there is as yet no end in sight – in fact, as I write this, our infection, hospitalisation and death rates are all increasing again, and it’s quite likely that we will go in to another full lockdown immediately after Christmas.

 

Signage is everywhere, warning of the dangers of infection and stressing the need to wear a mask, wash your hands or use sanitizer when entering shops, and observe the 2-metres-apart social distancing rules. 

This post includes a few of the latter type of signage I’ve encountered while out on my solo, always distanced, daily exercise walks, and you’ll note that the instructions are in both English and Welsh.