Five days of CAST-Off were held on Saturdays from 27 July to 24 August 2024 in the walled garden at National Trust Penrose.
A wide range of artist-led activities were on offer: ceramic artists Sarah Fassnidge and Charlie Duck supported the creation of a clay landscape; local craftsman Don Taylor provided materials, tools and expertise for serpentine polishing; artist Abigail Reynolds made kaleidoscopes with which families could explore the environment and make films; giant-maker Amy Brocklehurst led the creation of a huge wicker chicken; artist Bronwen Buckeridge helped children to create plasticine soundscapes; Mud Club ceramicists supervised the creation of miniature vessels on a picnic table for piskies; the Seaweed Institute led a session creating prints using different types of seaweed; and lead creative Lucy Grant set up a small printing press to create tiny intaglio prints. Other activities led by CAST’s team of creative facilitators included free-form wood construction, with pre-cut wood and child-sized tools provided, fish printing and folk mask making. 2,108 participants attended across all five sessions.
Before the main summer programme began, CAST’s learning team also delivered two weeks of CAST-Off sessions for schools. In these outdoor learning sessions 254 children, from nine classes at five local primary schools, joined the CAST team to explore parts of a trail from Helston to the walled garden at National Trust Penrose, taking part in a range of nature-based activities along the way. Pupils learnt how to orient themselves in the landscape using landmarks, maps and compasses, and honed their observational skills by looking for seeds, leaves, feathers and stones to present as tiny treasures in a matchbox museum. The children also made ‘near and far’ drawings of closely observed nature and the wider landscape, colour-matched with paint and made creatures with clay.
CAST-Off 2024 was part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The programme was also supported by Little Parc Owles Trust and the Garcia Family Foundation.
We should like to especially thank the Garcia Family Foundation, which enabled us to initiate the CAST-Off programme during the pandemic and has made it possible for us to continue the programme since that time.
