Lle Llais arrives at Ynys Môn!
The Public Map Platform’s outdoor engagement activities, Lle Llais, together with the innovative wooden structures of the Rural Roaming Room have begun on their journey around some of the most striking landscapes on the isle of Anglesey! The Public Map Platform team has welcomed children, young people and their families to the Breakwater Country Park in Holyhead and Parys Mountain near Amlwch to take part in interactive multi-sensory mapping journeys around the sites. As the tour gathers pace, the Rural Roaming Room, together with the project’s interdisciplinary bards will make their way to the grounds of Oriel Môn in Llangefni, before culminating in a five-day event on the sandy terrain of Newborough Natural Nature Reserve and Forest in September.
What is Lle Llais?
Lle Llais (which translates as ‘Voice Place’) is a series of events which have been organised to provide fun, free activities for families, with the aim of connecting the participants to the landscapes through their various senses. These journeys offer children and young people the opportunities to become mappers, and they’re invited to complete various activities based on sight, touch, smell and sound, all of which have been designed by the engagement team at Cambridge University – Caitlin Shepherd, Irit Katz and Flora Samuel. Several workshop activities are also offered within the looms of the Rural Roaming Room, which will gradually accumulate with creative materials being weaved into the structures.
Visitors to the sites are also encountering the Public Map Platform’s three talented bards, who are associated with Wrexham University, as they provide performative and creative elements during the outdoor experiences. Each Lle Llais event opens with a ceremony, led by Rhys Trimble (with an alternative quiet ceremony facilitated by Lisa Hudson), as a reference to the bardic tradition of the Eisteddfod – a festival that is integral to the culture of Wales. Storytelling sessions by Gillian Brownson connect with the local heritage and folklores of the island – the Copper ladies of Parys Mountain, and the mining goblins (y Coblynod) for instance – while walk-around performers interact with the visitors as they make their way around the activity trails. Local musicians have also contributed, as the distinctive sounds of the nation’s traditional instruments, the pibgorn and the triple harp have been heard wafting through the air, while slate xylophones and the sounds of the Parys Mountain rocks provided ample opportunities to explore sounds that relate to found local materials.
Crucial to the welcoming and fun atmosphere that Lle Llais offers are the accessibility and inclusion practices that are at the heart of the events, with designated quiet space available, as well as sensory equipment and multi-terrain buggies. Lle Llais is a place to reflect on our relationship with nature, to think about what the places mean to us, and how we use our senses to connect with the environment that surrounds us. Using creative methods, the activities offer time out from the hustle and bustle of daily life, and to really think about our sense of belonging to a place. The innovative looms of the Rural Roaming Room offer an invitation to think about places (that may or may not be familiar to us) in a different way. Observations of the events so far have revealed the participants’ clear sense of interaction with the activities and a real enjoyment of the journeys through the landscape.
Research and community engagement
The fun activities offered at Lle Llais are underpinned by participatory arts-based research methods, and the participants’ engagement with the events are carefully documented by the team. As they complete their activities along the trails, participants are invited to join the Public Map Platform’s community mappers to complete a survey about their experiences. The feedback provides valuable data for the researchers developing an engagement toolkit which will be available for families, organisations and communities to use in their own activities. Additionally, the data that is generated as part of the activities can potentially be integrated into the digital mapping platform, which is being designed to make better planning decisions for the people of Ynys Môn in the future. Lle Llais offers opportunities to learn more about the Public Map Platform, encouraging children and adults alike to become community mappers, thus taking part in a drive to give the inhabitants of the island’s communities a voice on their future. Participants can opt in to be updated on the project’s developments as the digital mapping platform will be rolled out in due course.
Each event involves close collaboration with local stakeholders and organisations, such as Anglesey’s Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Geo Môn, the Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust, Oriel Môn and Natural Resources Wales. Huge thanks are in order to everyone at these organisations, as well as the Public Map Platform team for their invaluable support in making the Lle Llais events a success!
Join us!
Preparations are ongoing to welcome children, young people and their families at the next couple of events, where lots of fun mapping opportunities will be available! Please spread the word around friends and families and join us if you can at Oriel Môn between 29 August and 1 September, or at Newborough between 18 and 22 September. Eventbrite bookings are recommended (more information may be found here), although walk-ins are also welcome!