Best Riding Club of Great Britain!

All at Arena Pontardawe extend their congratulations to our one of our partner groups - Cwmamman Riding Club, who are now officially the 'Best Riding Club of Great Britain', beating all UK riding clubs by an amazing 63 points!! - we wish them a very happy Christmas and another successful year to come.

Victorian Chirstmas Carols Friday 10th December

It's that time of year again and the Riverside will be holding an evening of Christmas carols and seasonal festivities on Friday 10th December from 7pm - 9.30pm. The evening will have a Victorian theme with old style decorations, carols ancient and modern and music all evening. You can have a go at making pomanders and Calennigs and learn about this old Welsh New Years tradition.

A great thanks to June Ashton-Mears Costumes (jam2910@btinternet.com 07960 637800) who will be turning up in their Victorian costumes and have also dressed our staff up as well (see picture!). It will be £3 per person and this will include a glass of mulled wine/soft drink and mince pies. Y Fari Lwyd may also make an appearance so you have been warned.

Riverside plays host to the Perfect Pets dog training club

Riverside plays host to the Perfect Pets dog training club twice a week. Kennel Club listed trainer, Linda Reynolds takes dogs from basic puppy training right through to bronze, silver and gold level Kennel Club Good Citizen Dog scheme. Linda can also assist with problem dogs on a one to one basis.

If you're interested, give Linda a call on 07546 520696

The dogs pictured are some of the advanced class working towards their golds.

Mask Making

Thanks for everyone who came to the mask making workshop last Saturday. Everyone had a really good time and we now have a good group of us for the WinterFest procession on Friday 3rd December. Remember your sparkly masks and lanterns! We will have hand-made lanterns for sale on that evening for anyone else who wants to join us but couldn't make the workshop.

PLEASE NOTE: due to unforeseen circumstances the second mask workshop on Sat 27th November has been cancelled.

NPT's Green Fayre - 11th & 12th Dec Riverside Centre

Neath Port Talbot are holding their Green Fayre for the Christmas season at the Riverside Centre on Sat 11th and Sun 12th December.

Visit the Fairtrade Santa, sample delicious fair trade products, visit stalls, discover local produce and much, much more!

FREE ENTRY

For further info contact Climate Change unit 01639 686527 greener@npt.gov.uk

Click on the thumbnail image to see the full size poster.

Lantern Making Workshop

The first of the workshops to make lanterns and masks for the WinterFest parade on 3rd December took place last Saturday 13th November. Viv Rhule helped everyone make lanterns of all shapes and sizes and it was magical to see them all lit up as the afternoon became darker. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and quite a few spare lanterns have been made so if you still want to join in the parade but don’t have a lantern we will be selling some of them just before the parade.

The parade will start at 6pm on the 3rd December at Pontardawe Football Club and will end outside the Arts Centre. If you want to join us with your lanterns and masks then please be at the Football Club at by 5.30 and say that you are part of the Riverside Lantern Bearers group. Next workshop will take place this Saturday 20th Nov from 10am - 3pm where we will be making our masks. This is a drop in workshop and it costs £3 per participant.

Halloween Shadow Puppets and Stories

Over 40 young people and adults braved the dark time of Halloween to come to the Riverside Centre to listen to scary stories and make shadow puppets. Helyn Latimer from Puppet Theatre Wales led the sessions and people made their own puppets and performed with them with added scary sound effects. The hall was filled with witches and ghosts, a warewolf and lots of strange other worldly beings.

There are certainly a lot of creative people around here and children and adults alike were drawn into the magic of the shadow puppet theatre. From the positive responses we have got from this session we will be organising other creative workshops for children and adults in the near future.