Hundreds of local residents create once-in-a-lifetime illuminated journey on Anglesey’s ‘Copper Mountain’ and and Amlwch Harbour

https://greenspacedarkskies.uk/films/

For a special two-day event on Saturday 6 August and Sunday 7 August, hundreds of participants from all walks of life, Lumenators came together with artists from North Wales for Green Space Dark Skies to celebrate Anglesey’s unique landscape and everyone’s right to explore the countryside.

Developed by outdoor art experts Walk the Plank, Green Space Dark Skies is part of UNBOXED: Creativity in the UK, running April to September 2022. This was the third public event to happen in Wales, with thousands of people participating UK-wide.

On Saturday evening, around 400 people – made up of locals, community groups and people from around the UK – gathered at Parys Mountain.

Chosen for its incredible industrial heritage and geology, the event aimed to shine a light on the area’s historic importance.

“Parys Mountain was once the largest copper mine in the world”, said Liz Pugh (Walk the Plank), the event’s Creative Director. “The mineral that was mined in the area since Neolithic times is still crucial today: copper wire conducts electricity into our homes; copper powers our smartphones, semi-conductors, and microchips – without copper there would be no digital technological revolution.”

At the event, visitors listened to talks from the Copper Kingdom’s Neil Summers, about the history of the Mine, and from geophysicists, Professor Celia Burek and Gavin Robertson, from GeoMôn, the organisation responsible for attaining the UNESCO Geopark status which this part of Wales enjoys. Circopyro led a circus skills workshop, while local artists, Simone Williams and Rhiannon Foggerty, worked with participants to create a land art sculpture and tea was served from the largest copper samovar in the world, reinforcing the health-giving benefits of this ‘super-metal’.

The journey into the mine included a live performance by BARDD – a musical trio comprising three local artists: Ed Holden, aka beatboxing champion Mr Phormula, originally from Amlwch; Martin Daws, spoken word artist and a former young people’s Poet Laureate for Wales, and multi-instrumentalist Henry Horrell – who were commissioned to create the soundtrack for the night. Walk the Plank’s creative team added magic in the shape of fire and special effects to illuminate the lunar landscape of the mountain.

At dusk, the Lumenators – carrying low-impact Geolights – were led around the mine workings while listening to Bardd’s bilingual soundtrack that included archive sound supplied by the Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust, mixed with contemporary poetry and music to create an evocative soundscape to accompany their journey.

The history of the mountain is linked to that of Amlwch which developed with the mines in the late eighteenth century to become a major port with ship building, smelting and chemical industries.

On Sunday evening, local people gathered at Amlwch Harbour for a community celebration to complete the story of the Copper Kingdom’s reach beyond the shores of Ynys Môn. There was live music from North Wales’ folk singer Eve Goodman, and local star, Britain’s Got Talent Finalist MC Gruffydd Wyn, hosted the evening from the stage.

At sunset, people stood along the harbour wall with their Geolights as traditional vessels – the Wilma and the Cemaes historic lifeboat – set sail from the harbour out to sea, carrying a symbolic cargo of light while Gruff Wyn led the mainly Welsh-speaking crowd to sing traditional Welsh ballad ‘Ar Lan Y Môr’.

The stunning creative adventure was filmed and will be available to view for free on the Green Space Dark Skies website and social media channels soon after the event.  All of the films made in Wales – on the Gower AONB, in the Brecon Beacons National Park and on Ynys Môn/Anglesey – will be screened In a BBC Wales special later this summer. 

The final Green Space Dark Skies  Wales event is at Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon, Parc Cenedlaethol / Snowdonia National Park (September 2022). Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon will not feature public participation. It will be filmed as part of the Finale to be broadcast on BBC Countryfile in the autumn, along with the three other highest peaks in the UK.