Launched in March 2025, Helston Spring Thing is a weekend of participatory activities, encouraging exploration and discovery across the town in celebration of the spring solstice. The CAST building hosts Think and Make sessions as part of the event.
In 2025, families were invited to craft their own articulated spring-themed shadow puppets, with renowned local puppeteer and animator Mae Voogd on hand to help children perform with their creations. As part of the session, a shadow play animation by Mae Voogd was shown in the black box space. Originally commissioned for CAST’s Art Lab programme for primary schools, the short film depicted a duel between the eternal forces of darkness and light, personified as Old Lady Winter and Spring, a young girl with golden curls. Families could also create a ‘spring thing’ from clay, with ceramicists from Clay Trap.
In 2026, families were invited to ‘grow a spring thing’ using coloured papers and other craft materials and to animate their creations with Mae Voogd using simple animation technology. At another workshop, running in a separate space, a multitude of dragons were made from terracotta clay.
‘Lovely craft and loved the stop animation. Never done that before but so effective and great to be part of a beautiful spring video! Thank you!’
‘Loved spending time creating with the whole family, this day brought us all together. Thank you.’