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Home / News / Beach Wheelchair scheme boosted by Bournemouth University students' animation
Posted On : 26/09/2022
Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority's Outdoor Mobility Project is being promoted online thanks to an animation produced by Bournemouth University students.
The animation, which has been created for BFX, the UK's largest computer game and animation festival, features the type of specially designed beach wheelchairs that are available to hire at various locations around the Pembrokeshire Coast.
The Park Authority's Pembrokeshire Outdoor Mobility Project also includes mobility scooters and all-terrain wheelchairs, which are available at inland locations including Carew Castle, Castell Henllys Iron Age Village and Oriel y Parc Gallery and Visitor Centre in St Davids.
National Park Authority Health and Well-being Policy Officer, Hannah Buck said: "We were absolutely delighted to be chosen to be part of the competition and blown away by the quality of work and attention to detail shown by the students.
"The students have been brilliant to work with and really understood our brief and we are and are delighted with the finished animation, which will help spread the word about the range of equipment available to hire around the National Park.
The animation titled 'A Day at the Seaside' sees an elderly mother and her son looking at old photographs of a family holiday to Pembrokeshire in 1982.
The mother indicates her use of a walking stick would make a return trip impossible, but the son appears with a beach wheelchair and the two are able to enjoy a day on the beach just like they had done 40 years previously.
The animation competition winners will be announced during the BFX Festival in November.
The team behind the animation are Janet He, Koey Leung, Malachi Dempsey-Clark, Maria Bartucca and Soraya Assadian, with music by Jess Ward.
To find out more about the BFX Festival competition visit www.bfxfestival.com/competitions.
To watch the video, find out more about the beach wheelchairs and to find out how to pre-book, please visit our Beach Wheelchairs page.
More National Park news
Tenders are invited for the following concessions for the period 1 April-31 October 2023.
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Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority is delighted to be one of the main sponsors of this year's Tenby Boxing Day Swim.
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Shoppers searching for homemade gifts and festive fun should make their way to St Davids on Saturday 3 December, for the Oriel y Parc Christmas Market...
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Community projects that contribute towards a reduction in carbon and help respond to the climate emergency will receive almost £200,000 from the Pemb...
Read more on Funding approved for 12 more Pembrokeshire projects


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11.05.2013 PLACE TO VISIT
Place to visit: Mr Straw House in Nottinghamshire, UK
Discover a time capsule of interwar life at the Worksop home of the Straw family who decided to leave their house unchanged for many decades. Opening the door of 7 Blyth Grove is like taking the time machine back to the 1920s. The house is a treasure chest of fascinating objects, fashions and memories from interwar Britain.
When William Straw Jr died in 1990, he left the contents of his house to the National Trust, despite being too frugal to pay for membership while he was alive. Staggered by the material they found, the Trust purchased the property, opting to display the house as they found it.
The parlour of Mr Straw's House, Nottinghamshire
This peculiar story began when William Straw Sr, the owner of the local grocery shop, moved his family into the house in 1923. His wife, Florence, by now in her fifties, had looked forward to running her own house for years. She oversaw a programme of improvements that made the house the height of fashion. The electrical system was modernised, an up-to-date bathroom and kitchen installed, and the house was decorated throughout with new carpets, wallpaper and paint. However, upon William Sr's death nine years later, the family took the eccentric decision to keep the house as it was.
View of the piano in the sitting room
They left his coats hanging in the corridor, and is pipes and tobacco were not moved from the fireplace in the dining room. The 1932 calendar next to the fireplace was never replaced with a new one. Florence now spent a lot of her time in the sitting room, and after she died in 1939, that room was left largely undisturbed. The curtains were drawn and rarely opened again. Her Bible remains on the table, and her music scores still sit on the piano stool.
The store cupboard on the second floor landing
The couple's two bachelor sons, William Jr and Walter, lived in the house together for the next 50 years. Averse to change, very little was altered in the time that they occupied it, and they were loath to throw anything away. Piles of papers and correspondence litter the house, and the two spare bedrooms contain many artefacts and trinkets including a Second World War ARP helmet and a foot-operated vacuum cleaner.
The brothers had a life of regular routine, with Walter looking after the grocery shop while William stayed at home and maintained the house. On an evening, each would retire to his chair by the fire to discuss the day's events and read the paper.
Two pairs of polished black men's shoes stuffed with paper, found in Walter's room
It is impossible to tour the house without feeling a desire to meet the family. Did Florence's grief over the loss of her husband kick-start the process by which the house was preserved? Were the boys trying to create the shrine to their father and mother? Did they always intend to create a historical record for future generations, befitting their interest in local history? There are clues scattered around the house in abundance to help historians try to get the bottom of the puzzle of why this became the house that time forgot.
Mr Straw's House, 7 Blyth Grove, Worksop, Nottinghamshire S81 0JG, 01909 482380
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Mr Straw's House

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Date: 28.12.22 Written by: David Truslove Posted in: Reviews, Music
Penllyn | Piano music by Peter Reynolds
David Truslove casts a benevolent eye over Penllyn, the collected solo piano music of Peter Reynolds published by Prima Facie Records.
This recent disc forms an affectionate tribute to the piano music of Welsh composer Peter Reynolds (1958-2016), whose untimely death just over six years ago was mourned by numerous friends, colleagues and Cardiff-based composers on whom he had made a lasting impression. Penllyn is the culmination and premiere recording of not only all of Peter's works for solo piano, tracked down at The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth and at Tŷ Cerdd in Cardiff, but it also represents an outpouring of love from many of those who knew Peter best. He was an exceptionally unassuming man, a fine composer and a keen supporter of other musicians, both in his capacity as a teacher at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and as a champion of performances and recordings of new and neglected works.
Peter's music takes up the lion's share of this 70-minute CD (with additional solo piano tracks by David Power and Luke Whitlock), the whole curated by pianist Duncan Honeybourne. His generous assessment of Peter's piano works can be found within the disc's booklet notes where he points to an "immaculately crafted" compositional process and an "overarching integrity". Honeybourne describes the disc's title work, Penllyn, as a "moving little essay in tone colour, shifting harmony and darkly-etched cantabile lines." Peter was never a church goer in the sense of a regular worshipper, but the four and a half minutes of Penllyn (based on an early 19th century Welsh hymn tune by David Jenkin Morgan) suggests a celestial vision, something which Peter would undoubtedly have dismissed as romantic nonsense. Yet to hear just a few bars of its floating phrases is to enter a quietly meditative and self-effacing world, an intimate domain in which stillness and a pared down transparency hide a solid technique where no note is out of place.
Across this survey of works mostly written between 2009 and 2016, there's an intermittent nod to the past in works such as the Monteverdi-inspired Ecco Mormorar L'onde, its madrigalian outlines refracted through contemporary resonances. Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is faintly referenced in Peter's humorous Ein Kleines Albumblatt für Bären, where the opening phrase of The Teddy Bear's Picnic forms a conspicuous presence and, like several works on the disc, was conceived for friends. Two other gifts are the charming piano triptych Far down the Forest (based on the tales of Hans Christian Andersen) and Epithalamion with its ironic pitch extremes and bare sonorities. Lullaby demonstrates a versatility in its optional scoring for "any two suitable instruments".
In the 1980s Peter had briefly studied with Morten Feldman – a composer whom he much admired, identifying closely with his spare textures and often slow tempi. Like Morten's music, one can perhaps better appreciate Peter's when you abandon the idea that music should be dynamic and pushing forward in a bold, energetic manner. Brevity is also most often associated with Peter's music, famously acquiring an entry into the Guinness Book of Records for the world's shortest opera, The Sands of Time. But, by far the longest of his works presented here is Bayvil, a nine-minute 'processional' of timeless bell-like effects inspired by a visit to a small, redundant church (adorned with boxed pews and a 12th century font) not far from the Pembrokeshire coast. The work reveals Peter's attraction to remote places, particularly ancient chapels, and a preoccupation with transferring a building's unique atmosphere onto the printed page, something he achieved in other works prompted by churches at Cippyn and Partrishow.
Nature, or at least the sea, provides a creative starting point for Luke Whitlock, whose three Oceanic Interludes form a sort of neo-romantic encounter with minimalism. Composed during the global pandemic, these glimmering evocations are propelled by an introspective "emotional drive" and culminate in a light-filled portrayal of a shoal of fish. David Power's Seven Afterthoughts also form an attractive 'palette cleanser'. If these short, directly communicative pieces (each mostly under two minutes) can be likened to mood pictures, the first betrays Power's early affiliation with rock music, while the fifth is redolent of Erik Satie.
However, this disc is dedicated to the memory of Peter Reynolds, whose remarkable gifts and encyclopaedic knowledge found a tireless and unselfish outlet as a composer, teacher, writer, administrator and festival director, and whom I was privileged to call a friend. He is still sorely missed, but his craftsmanship, generosity and gentle humour all readily resurface in this commemorative disc, sensitively performed by Duncan Honeybourne and sympathetically produced by Luke Whitlock.
Cerys Hafana in Conversation
Curries | Review
Mercy by John Cale | Review
Sŵnamii | Review


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Corby murder judge warning - 'Anyone prepared to carry a knife stands only a short step from murder'
Face of a killer - how a Corby boy who has 'never been in trouble' was convicted of murder
Corby and Kettering students accepted onto prestigious Master Cadets course
By Sam Wildman
Sunday, 6th December 2020, 7:00 am
Paul Ile
Two students at schools in Corby and Kettering have been accepted onto a prestigious course run by the Army Cadet Force.
Josh Haigh and Paul Ile from the Brooke Weston Trust Combined Cadet Force have gained a place on the Master Cadet course, which is accepting CCF cadets for the first time ever with only 12 from across the country accepted.
Both Josh, from Corby Business Academy, and Paul from Kettering Science Academy, had an online interview before their places were confirmed.
Josh Haigh
Josh, who is in Year 12, said: "This is my fourth year in the cadet force and I have developed lots of skills including teamwork, communication and leadership, as well as military skills including navigation and fieldcraft. CCF has been a massive confidence boost to me personally.
"A military career is definitely something I am considering. Cadets has opened my eyes to wider careers and helped me realise my potential. I'd like to do a degree in medicine and go on to be an Army doctor.
"I am really proud to have got onto the Master Cadet course. If people are thinking of joining the cadets I would tell them to go for it, the amount that I have learned about myself and others has been amazing. It is an amazing opportunity to get out of the classroom and gain practical skills. I have been really supported all the way through CCF."
Simon Underwood, Corby Business Academy's principal, said: "We are all hugely proud of Josh and what he has achieved with the CCF. To be accepted onto this course is a huge accolade and demonstrates his dedication and determination."
Paul, from Year 13, said: "CCF has allowed me to stand up in front of people and talk to them with confidence. It has also given me leadership skills. You also get the aspect of teamwork and getting along with people. Getting onto the Master Cadet course is a massive achievement and I am very proud."
Tony Segalini, principal at Kettering Science Academy said: "Paul is a fantastic role model to our students and shows just what can be achieved with hard work, commitment and an ambition to aim high. Everyone at the Academy sends him huge congratulations on this achievement."
WO1 Nigel Barrett from the Trust Combined Cadet Force said: "This is a huge opportunity for Josh and Paul. They are fine examples of senior cadets and their skills, leadership and confidence have all developed massively during their time in the Combined Cadet Force. They are a credit to themselves, their schools and to the contingent as a whole."


I argue that the next era in human history should be called The Symbiocene (from the Greek sumbiosis, or companionship). I created this concept in 2011 as an almost instinctive reaction again the very idea of the Anthropocene (Albrecht 2011, Albrecht 2014). The scientific meaning of the word 'symbiosis' implies living together for mutual benefit and I wish to use this profoundly important concept as the basis for what I hope will be the next period of Earth history. As a core aspect of ecological and evolutionary thinking, symbiosis and its associated symbiogenesis, affirms the interconnectedness of life and all living things (Scofield and Margulis 2012).
As a scientific term, symbiosis has been used to give substance to the nature of the interactions between different organisms living in close physical association. For example, the relatively recent discovery of immense mutually beneficial associations of macrofungi with flowering plants in complex positive metabolic symbiotic relationship to each other in ecosystems all over the world has already overturned the dominance of the 'Darwinian' view of life as solely founded on competitive struggle between species (Scofield and Margulis 2012, Albrecht 2001).
We are now closer to understanding how ecosystem parameters can be guided by key players in the system to maximise benefits for the life-chances of whole species. In essence, there is a form of 'natural justice' that prevails. We now know that, for example, health in all forest ecosystems is regulated by what are called "mother trees" that control fungal networks that in turn interconnect trees of varying ages. The control system works to regulate nutrient flows to trees, such as to the very young, that need them most (Simard et al 2015). It also works to transfer information and energy from dying species to those that might continue to thrive, thus maintaining 'the forest' (see Fraser 2015). These crucially important insights have yet to be incorporated into ecological thinking applied to politics and human societies.
In the practice of mutual aid, which can be traced to the earliest beginnings of evolution, we thus find the positive and undoubted origin of our ethical conceptions; and we can affirm that in the ethical progress of man, mutual support – not mutual struggle – has had the leading part (Kropotkin 1987:234).
Let us now try to imagine The Symbiocene and the politics of how it might function. The new era will be characterised by human intelligence that replicates the symbiotic and mutually reinforcing life-reproducing forms and processes found in living systems. Given that we have evolved as a species within the pre-existing evolutionary matrix, such intelligence lies within us as latent potential. The elements include, full recyclability of all inputs and outputs, the elimination of toxic waste in all aspects of human enterprise, safe and socially-just renewable energy and full and harmonious integration of human industry and technology with physical and living systems at all scales.
In The Symbiocene, human action, culture and enterprise will be exemplified by those cumulative types of relationships and attributes nurtured by humans that enhance mutual interdependence and mutual benefit for all living beings (desirable), all species (essential) and the health of all ecosystems (mandatory). Human development will consist of creative actions that use the very best of biomimicry together with other eco-industrial, eco-technological, eco-agricultural and eco-cultural innovation. Human psychology will be fully nurtured within The Symbiocene (Albrecht 2014).
However, beyond biomimicry we must also have symbiomimicry. Many simply think it is enough to copy the shapes and form of life, but they make no connection to life's processes. We don't just copy the form of life, we replicate in all types of human creativity, the processes of life that make the mutually beneficial associations between different life forms strong and healthy. Examples such as the 'wood-wide-web' suggest to me that organising resources and processes so that the young, weak and vulnerable get their fair share in order that the totality has the greatest chance of survival and flourishing is fundamental to life. Symbiomimicry in human enterprise will both generate and distribute resources such that, in nurturing all humans, we nurture the life support system on which we all depend.
The geological proof of the presence of The Symbiocene will be the observed gradual disappearance of The Anthropocene as the Earth is cleansed of its toxic legacy and the background rate of global extinction and evolution resumes. In what I hope will be a relatively short period of time (decades? hundreds of years?) there will be a point in human evolution when every element of human culture, habitat and technology will be able to be fully re-integrated back into life and its cycles and processes. From that point onward, within the youngest geological strata, there will hardly be a distinctively human presence left on this Earth. All that will be left to fossilise will be the bones and teeth of people who lived within The Symbiocene.
As we build The Symbiocene we shall also build a new political system I call Sumbiocracy (from the Greek sumbiosis, from sumbioun, to live together, from sumbios, living together). I define Sumbiocracy as rule determined by the type and totality of mutually beneficial or benign relationships in a given socio-biological system at all scales (mutualism).
The basic idea here is that if the processes that nurture ecosystems and biomes are identified, protected and conserved, species within such healthy ecosystems will also flourish. We therefore do not need to further democratise a failing 'biased' democracy with, say, a Deep Ecology 'council of all beings' approach where species' interests are 'represented' in decision-making structures by well-meaning humans. Rather, we need to elect people to govern who understand and affirm life-supporting organic form, process and relationships such that they can deliberate on creative proposals from humans.
If, for example, an aspect of human development is known to have a long-term toxic impact on a basic life process such as metabolism, then it simply cannot be permitted to take place or if it is already being undertaken, it must be urgently phased out of existence (e.g., lead in petrol, asbestos in building supplies, phalates in plastic).
Governance by scientifically and traditionally informed humans (including citizen science) at all places and all scales determines the interconnections between elements of complex systems before they commit to action that impacts system health. We must remember that place is critical to effective sumbiocracy as only those with close and intimate ties to particular places are in a position to know their place and make decisions about its health and vitality.
Sumbiocracy is a form of government where humans govern for all the reciprocal relationships of the Earth at all scales from local to global. Organic form (all biodiversity including humans) and organic process (Earth systems) are present in this new form of government. Sumbiocracy is rule for the Earth – by the Earth, so that we might all live together.
We now have a very sophisticated understanding of how the natural world works and, as it was here and functioning before humans evolved as Homo sapiens sapiens, it is we that must fit in with its process and functioning. To understand the conditions of life but to deliberately destroy them by toxic overload, changing the climate for the worse, making formerly healthy ecosystems unfit for life, destroying ecosystems and extirpating species (the 6th Great Extinction), we demonstrate that we are not only Homo non-sapiens, but also some kind of pathological plague on all species on this Earth. We are better than that.


With this blouse you have a unique item, where you easily can experiment with its look. Wear for instance tops with different neck openings to vary its look and expression. To create a cool, casual look, you can wear a turtleneck underneath the blouse and combine it with jeans and trainers. For parties, you can wear a top underneath that has a v-neck and this way you can put more attention towards the beautiful embroderies. Complete your festive look with a pair of trousers, pumps and statement earrings.


Join us for a free, non-partisan public forum to look at the big picture of how climate change is affecting Alaska and what action we need to take to adapt to and mitigate these impacts.
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In August 2016, Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, was removed from office by the senate. She had come under attack after a series of corruption scandals and allegations of nepotism. For this courtroom drama, director Maria Augusta Ramos documented the politically motivated trial from the perspective of Rousseff's defense team. Emotions run high in the packed courtroom, the constitution is quoted theatrically, and there are constant references to the Brazilian dictatorship, during which Rousseff was held as a political prisoner.
Inside, the structures of power unfold, and sexism sometimes seeps through the cracks. Outside, the president's supporters and opponents follow the case on large screens, dressed like soccer fans in the colors of the rival parties, and chanting like a Greek chorus. Are the supporters backing Dilma, as the Brazilians refer to their president, or are they primarily resisting a conservative offensive? And is Dilma actually the leader of the women she claims to represent?