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Mind in the Vale - News
Charles Byrd show at Travellers Gallery, Barry Station.
Barry ‘boy’ Charles Byrd, aged 92, at his exhibition opened by the Deputy Mayor of Barry, Cllr Karl Kuhnell.
In addition to the large Charles Byrd exhibition in Art Central, a smaller exhibition of his joyful abstract paintings from the 1960’s will be open at the Travellers Gallery, Barry Station, through the summer. Travellers Café and Gallery is run by Mind in the Vale of Glamorgan as a work experience setting for people recovering from mental health problems.
None of the delightful paintings on display have been shown in public before, but they have been prepared for exhibition by his friend Cen Williams who said their glorious colours and lively designs would lift the spirits of everyone who saw them. Cen added that “they will oil the wheels of Mind” by their impact on people who work in and use the Café Gallery. Some visitors will be cheered, some might decide to go to another art exhibition, and some might even take up painting, all inspired by Charles Byrd. Charles then entertained the private view with stories of his early memories of Barry, where he had attended Romilly Road school, where he sang with the famous choir, and where he had never been given the cane! He then offered to donate his painting of Barry Docks to the town.
At the launch Mind in the Vale raised £65 from a combination of sales of a book about the work of Charles Byrd (generously donated and autographed by the artist) and donations. The lavishly illustrated book featuring a range of the artists work is still available for purchase at Travellers Cafe.
The Travellers Café Gallery is open Monday to Friday, 7am to 1pm. The exhibition lasts until Friday 11th September. Future plans include open exhibitions to be announced in the near future. For further information ring 01446 730792 or look on the websites www.mindinthevale.org.uk and www.voga.org.uk.
APRIL GARDEN PARTY IN HONOUR OF ALBERT NICHOLS
Without Albert Nicholls, who sadly passed away in 2008, the Tynewydd Centre garden would not exist. He transformed a 'building site' into a beautiful garden, involving everyone in the design. He loved nature and lovingly planted trees and shrubs to attract butterflies, birds and bees for years to come. There will be a renaming ceremony on Tuesday 28th Apr attended by Jane Hutt AM, Education Minister for Wales, who conducted the opening ceremony of the Garden alongside Albert in 2004. Check out our Garden Gallery on the Tynewydd Centre page of the Mind in the Vale website www.mindinthevale.org.uk/tynewydd
CATALIST POSTS
The Catalist Project welcomes Karen Gray (Coordinator) and Nicola Price (Outreach Worker) who along with Ben Treharne-Foose (Information Officer) now comprise the fully completed Catalist team.
Karen has spent nearly all her working life in the Voluntary Sector. She has worked for various organisations including Marie Stopes International as Asia Projects Coordinator ,FPA as Helpline Information Officer, a therapeutic counsellor in a London comprehensive school and most recently as Participation Officer for Age Concern Morgannwg’s Communities First Team in Rhondda Cynon Taff.
Nicola comes to us after serving as an Outreach Worker for the Vale Volunteer Bureau for just over 2 years. Her role involved recruiting, placing and supporting volunteers through the Outreach Service and providing information on all aspects of volunteering to both individuals and organisations. She gave presentations to various groups within the community, as well as attended local events to promote volunteering and good practices throughout the Vale. She has also been a volunteer in her local community supporting new and expectant mothers and assisting in the running of a local support group. Prior to this, she spent 9 years with the Department for Work and Pensions, undertaking various roles including assisting in jobsearches, interviewing and signposting jobseekers and providing advice on benefit entitlement.
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PICTURING THE VALE
A new exhibition called ‘Picturing the Vale’ has been opened by Cllr Margaret Alexander at the Travellers Gallery located in Barry Station Café. The café itself is a work experience project managed by Mind in the Vale of Glamorgan, and it has also doubled as an Art Gallery since 2004, for most of that time with the support of VOGA (Vale of Glamorgan Artists) fourteen of whose members are showing their work in the current exhibition. Cllr Margaret Alexander and Paul Clarke welcomed the recent renewal of VOGA’s collaboration with Mind in the Vale of Glamorgan.
The Travellers Gallery and Cafe are open Monday to Friday, 7am to 1pm. The exhibition lasts until Monday 6th July. Future plans include open exhibitions to be announced in the near future. For further information ring 01446 730792 or look on the websites www.mindinthevale.org.uk and www.voga.org.uk.
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VOLUNTEER AWARDS
Volunteers' Week is a national celebration of volunteers and volunteering which takes place from 1 to 7 June each year. It plays a huge part in raising the profile of volunteers while encouraging others to get involved. The awards ceremony in Barry is on June 8th @12pm Alberts Garden, Ty Newydd centre.
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GET IT OFF YOUR CHEST
Tynewydd Men helpedmen in Barry to ‘get it off their chest’ to mark this year’s Mind Week campaign on men and mental health.
Tynewydd Men is a social support group that meet on a weekly basis at Mind in the Vale of Glamorgan’s Tynewydd Centre in Barry. On Tuesday, May 12th, the group met and spoke with people at the Holton Road Market in Barry distributing information and raised awareness concerning men and Mental Health.
Although men and women experience similar rates of mental distress, men are less likely to visit their GP when they’re down and less likely to open up about their problems. On the other hand, 75% of suicides are by men and for every young man who dies from AIDS, 39 die from depression. This year, Mind is hoping to save lives by launching a new campaign, ‘Get it off your chest’, aimed at raising awareness of mental health among men and encouraging them to seek help when times get tough.
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LEARNING THROUGH EMPOYMENT
Peter Green from University of Glamorgan in collabaration with Mind Cymru gave a 'lerarning taster' session on Wednesday 13th May at Tynewydd Centre to discuss 'Learning through employment. Paid staff and volunteers were present. |
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GARDEN PARTY GUESTS PRAISE MIND IN THE VALE’S WORK
Alun Cairns AM and David Melding AM were our special guests at the first Tynewydd Centre Garden Party of the year on March 27th hosted by everyone who uses and works within the Centre. A buffet was provided by Travellers in Mind and entertainment was provided by performance poetry from Frances Page and Gethyn Clarke. Frances presented both AMs with signed copies of his new poetry anthology.
David Melding spoke about how impressed he has been over the years with the ‘inspirational work’ of Mind in the Vale of Glamorgan, and the way in which the organisation ‘gives power back to the people who use your services’. Alun Cairns thanked everyone for their warm welcome and spoke of the good impression he had gained of our work.
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MIND IN THE VALE ON THE WEB – www.mindinthevale.org.uk
The new Mind in the Vale website will be officially launched on Thurs 18th June at the third of our 2009 Garden Parties. Meanwhile please give us feedback on what you think of the website so far, and watch out for exciting new additions over the next two months.
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MIND AND VOGA PARTNER UP TO SUSTAIN TRAVELLERS GALLERY EXHIBITION PROGRAME:
Mind in the Vale and Vale of Glamorgan Artists (VOGA) have established a ‘Travellers Gallery Group’ to curate and sustain exhibitions in our acclaimed cafe gallery. We are very grateful for VOGAs support without which the gallery would have to house a permanent exhibition with very limited opportunities for artists to exhibit. Watch out soon for an arts page on our website along with details on how to submit artwork for consideration and to apply to be a volunteer supporting the work of the group
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MIND IN THE VALE ON THE MOVE
Mind in the Vale’s Main Office and the Catalist Project Main Office moved to shared premises in January. Our new address is Unit 20, Palmerston Workshops, Barry CF63 2YZ, just opposite Waitrose. The Tynewydd Centre will be staying put and will have a meeting room available to groups, partners etc as a result of the move. If you’re interested in this resource please contact 01446 749 743.
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CATALIST WORKSHOP AT MAJOR VOLUNTARY SECTOR CONFERENCE
A major national conference in April, New Developments in the Mental Health Voluntary Sector in Wales will showcase Big Lottery funded projects from across Wales. The conference is for mental health voluntary sector agencies, service users, carers and self help groups and will be attended by Edwina Hart, Health Minister. It will take place on 29th April 2009 at the All Nation’s Centre, Cardiff . The two national voluntary sector networks– Mental Health Action Wales and the Wales Mental Health Alliance - are collaborating to deliver this conference to promote the views and needs of the sector at a time of major change. The conference aims to take stock of new developments within the sector including the Big Lottery Fund £15m allocation for new voluntary sector initiatives. There will be information on the new schemes and discussion as to how we can best evaluate their impact and outcomes.Paul Clarke and Tim Watkins will be presenting on the Catalist project in a joint workshop with the DIY Futures Project Powys (Derek Turner).
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EXECUTIVE UPDATE
We’re pleased to welcome Daniel Smith - former Cardiff and Vale Mental Health Project User Involvement Worker, and Paul Brown - former CAB and Money Advice Unit Trustee to the Mind in the Vale Executive Committee. If you are interested in becoming a trustee of Mind in the Vale and have skills and/or experience you believe could benefit the committee please contact our Main Office on 01446 730792 for more information. |
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Finding Us
We are located just across the road from Waitrose in Barry on Palmerston Road.
Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday 9.00 - 5.00
By Bus:
The closest bus stop is the Palmerstown, Waitrose stop. (1 minute walk)
By Train:
The closest rail station is the Cadoxton station (10 minute walk)
By Car:
Free Parking along Palmerston Road.
Disability access is available at our premises
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