A summer of free outdoor activities is beginning again in Helston and open to anyone.
The CAST-Off events are put on each year by the team at CAST (Cornubian Arts and Science Trust) based in Penrose Road.
This Saturday sees the launch of this year’s summer programme for children and families, which this year will then take place on Saturdays and Wednesdays through August.
Lucy Grant and her team of artists and helpers are offering a range of activities in the walled garden at Penrose, involving painting, drawing, making, looking, listening and imagining.
Sessions in the walled garden will take place on Saturdays from July 29 to August 19, from 10am to 12 noon and again from 2pm to 4pm. For the first time, there will also be sessions in Coronation Gardens / King George V Park in central Helston. These ‘Make and Play’ sessions will take place near the Scout Hut on three Wednesdays – August 2, 9 and 16 – again from 10am to 12 noon and 2pm to 4pm.
The final session of the summer programme will be a beach day at Church Cove, Gunwalloe on Wednesday, August 23.
Anyone planning to walk, scoot or cycle from the free Fairground car park in Helston to the walled garden at Penrose (roughly one and a half miles away) can pick up an activity map, with stamps to collect from different locations along the trail. Free copies of the map are available from the café at CAST in Penrose Road, as well as at CAST-Off sessions.
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All the activities are free and offered on a drop-in basis, with no booking required. You can join in for an hour or two or bring a packed lunch and spend the whole day exploring, making and playing.
More details of what is planned for each day will be announced on the CAST website https://c-a-s-t.org.uk and on the CASTcornwall Facebook page.
The sessions will continue even if there is a bit of drizzle, but check on the day in case of extreme weather or last-minute changes.
The public activities come off the back of a series of CAST-Off sessions for schools, which took place during the last two weeks of term for the first time.
Children from Parc Eglos, St Michael’s and Nansloe, as well as a number of nearby schools, explored the trail from Helston to the walled garden at Penrose and took part in a range of nature-based activities.
They orientated themselves in the landscape with landmarks, map and compass, looked for special tiny treasures for a matchbox museum, made ‘near and far’ drawings of closely observed nature and the wider landscape, colour-matched with paint and made creatures with clay. Sessions started with making leaf crowns to wear for the day.
CAST director Teresa Gleadowe said: “There was a lot of enthusiasm and joy at this opportunity to learn out of doors and to be out and about in the natural world.
“CAST hopes that children who participated in the CAST-Off sessions for schools will return with their families to join in with holiday activities in the walled garden at Penrose and at Coronation Gardens.”
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