Past events at Plas Bodfa
projects, events, residencies, workshops and festivals at ours and throughout our community
Aberlleiniog Trails
Aberlleiniog Trails 2025
Archeology, poetry, performance, geology, walks, installations, a choir, children's activities, mapping, carving, daubing, leopard galavanting...something for everyone!
Presenting guided walks, creative activities, artworks and performances inspired by Aberlleiniog castle, our community woodlands and Lleiniog beach. This year the event was based at Llangoed Village Hall and its gardens, with guided walks branching out into the woodlands.
Full documentation of all works click here
a small selection….
Flags Flying Parade
Flags Flying Parade
On the 29th of March, 2025 As part of the Llangoed Village Hall 115th Birthday Celebrations, we paraded with all eleven of our community-designed flags as part of the ‘Flags Flying in Llangoed’ project.
Many thanks to the Llangefni Majors Majorettes for leading the way and to the Llangoed Girl Guides for flying their own beautiful flags. Huge thanks to Mary Thomas for her skills with the megaphone, sharing the stories behind all the inspired flag designs. Thank you to John Draper and Jonathan Lewis for the photos.
Welsh Dark Skies Week - Community Stargazing
We celebrated Welsh Dark Skies Week with an evening of stargazing and astronomical brainstorming with the Anglesey Astronomical Society.
'Arsyllfa Busby-Braden Observatory' Dedication Event
Oh what a night!
The Arsyllfa Busby – Braden Observatory has been officially dedicated, ready to welcome new generations of curious stargazers.
We were joined by a full house of stars and planets, locals and special guests, under a truly dark and dazzling sky.
Debbie Braden and her two daughters were there to see the deep-sky telescope of the late Phil Braden installed inside if its new observatory home.
The rotating observatory, gifted by the Busby family in honour of the late Robert Busby, has been fully renovated by the Seiriol Men’s Shed and is now installed in its new home at Plas Bodfa.
Gavin Malone and Dani Robertson were in attendance to give us an insight into the highlights of the current night sky, representing the Anglesey Astronomical Society and Project Nos / The Dark Skies Partnership respectively. Both are partners in the project.
We were honoured to host Alun Owen of Anglesey County Council’s AONB team, for without their support and funding, this would have been possible.
Charles Gershom brought his love of Welsh folk tales, storytelling and his telescope repairing skills into the mix with a beautiful story of Taurus – Y Tarw.
Flags Flying design workshop
Llangoed Village Hall will once again have a flagpole! With support from the Balchder Bro project, we are designing flags to represent our community, celebrate special events and create a visual buzz around our local 114-year-old village hall gathering place. The flagpole will be launched with a series of ten custom-printed flags.
Curious participants learned about graphic design, flag design and had a go at designing their very own flag as part of the free design workshop at Llangoed Village Hall with artist and designer Ffion Pritchard.
These events are funded through Balchder Bro Môn, which has been funded by the UK Government through the UK Common Prosperity Fund, with financial support also from the Nuclear Recovery Services (NRS) on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Flags Flying school workshop
Llangoed Village Hall is getting a flagpole! With support from the Balchder Bro Môn project, the students at Ysgol Llangoed are designing flags to represent our community, celebrate special events and create a visual buzz around our local 114-year-old village hall gathering place.
Visual themes were: the sea, trees, flowers, Penmon lighthouse, friends, the school, animals and dragons of course!
These events are funded through Balchder Bro Môn, which has been funded by the UK Government through the UK Common Prosperity Fund, with financial support also from the Nuclear Recovery Services (NRS) on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).
Chwilofta - Feast & Fable - Residency
An otherworldly week with Livi Wilmore, Thomas Buckley, Sian Paul, who were resident at Plas Bodfa to explore hidden histories, immersive tech, experimental dining and sensory reminiscence. With their complete greenhouse take-over they were able to develop and test all their wildest ideas as a part of their Arts Council Funded R&D grant to uncover memories of Colwyn Bay Pier and the obscured local works of Eric Ravilious.
More on the project - www.thomas-buckley.com/chwilofta
Chwilofta are a Welsh collective who explore local memories, cultural phenomena and the potential of reminisce utilising, immersive tech, taste, and sensory recall to create unique food focused community experiences.
Images by Offhand Photography
Images by Offhand Photography
Images by Offhand Photography
Images by Offhand Photography
Images by Offhand Photography
Sarah Wordsworth - Poet in Residence
We are very pleased to have welcomed Sarah Wordsworth as our poet-in-residence for much of the year. Her thoughtful presence and extensive horticultural knowledge was both a joy and an asset to all of us.
Here is a selection of her works inspired by Plas Bodfa
The Water Cycle
To fall further than the living,
And grow as crystals in midair
Light as wren’s down
Hush, hush the world to sleep beneath,
the weight of magic and fallen starlight.
To flow beneath the warmth of longer days
as you lick boulders, carrying the taste of
granite and schist, and the gleaming seams
which stitch the land.
To be clothed in silver by the Moon, which hides
your depths. Your belly full of
rocks and wriggling. And you stole the light,
and broke it,
into tumbling shards
As you race to the sea.
To pour thunder and rainbows from cliffs,
soaking air and sight and sound and skin.
Green the caverns of emerald cushions, hypnotise
the breath from all who venture near.
To bullet the puddles into crowns
And seethe the lake’s dance floor with
the drums of a thousand feet, and roll
down the sheen of green when you pause
in the soft nape of a Mallard.
To lie amidst the mountains in scars
gouged by furious ice with iron knuckles.
And show the sky how to move the mood
of your face and tangle it with reeds and flight.
To fold billowing emulsion through a cold dawn
over ridge and peak, smothering them in
soft treachery. Until the tenth hour lifts
your flocks of white in heavenly spires
as you are inhaled to the Sun.
To know all of this …..
Is to know water.
September in the Meadow
September has stolen the hues of summer,
washed them out,
leached into the rich earth,
as it waits patiently to be fed.
Lingering rebels of coltsfoot,
Seem scattered and disparate,
And the punchy pink heads of Clover,
Subside into rusty hues.
All is now seed.
All is now hope held in umbels and pods,
Drumsticks and feathers.
The trees seem watchful,
looming over changeling neighbour,
Still dark with the syphoning green that drinks the sun.
The ends of boughs have begun to fret
Worry is coloured gold and bronze.
They are well stated today, but
leaner times will swoop down,
brought by the chill from the mountaintops,
and the dark rages of the sea,
Geese point the way,
noisily honking their directions.
But the plantain cannot follow,
It must bob in the breeze,
and scatter its children with hope,
amongst the dwindling lushness.
Shimmering into existence,
from the depths of the Hawthorn,
Linnets swoop to Milk Thistle,
and vanish as quickly as they came.
Gone is the lazy buzz of banqueting.
Carders scavenge hungrily,
before the feast is cleared away.
The Meadow feels sad.
The party has ended, and soon
they will all be turfed out.
I was not here for the walk
I was not here for the walk.
I was here for the sound.
For the thrashing onslaught,
and the chunnering retreat.
How far was inconsequential.
It was not measured by legs,
in strides and crunches.
It was measured by my heart,
as it expanded across the horizon.
I was not here for the walk.
I was here for every detail,
each droplet of foam as it rose,
through the air.
Each brown and grey.
Each incongruous white.
The purses of mermaids,
and the golden strike that parts,
the clouds and lands up on the cliffs.
I was not here for the walk.
I was here to feel each roll of the ankle,
each articulation of the arch and toes,
as they held the land,
and knew it.
I was here to feel the gentle threat,
of droplets on my face,
as towards the darkening broody hills,
I fearlessly strode.
I was not here for the walk.
I was here to marvel at each,
heart-shaped stone which drew my eye,
and felt like a warning.
Here you could sit cold, alone and buffeted.
Better to be seen,
and slipped into an admiring pocket,
to be taken home and treasured.
Home, into the warmth.
Home into the familiar.
Safe
I was not here for the walk.
I was here to be terrified,
Awed into silenced.
Moved by your majesty.
I was here to have my cheeks bitten numb,
And my temples prodded sore by your frozen fingers.
I was here to feel alive.
There was no trig point to be tagged,
no Wainwright to be bagged,
just this simple, mad cacophony that told me I was free.
Goldfinch Meditation
They are so flighty and nervous. Descending on the field of thistles like a flurry of windblown leaves. They twitter with collective anxiety, calling, checking in on one another. Most of them are feeding, but a few sit on loftier perches above the fading meadow’s lushness. They sit and watch to be relieved of duty by another member of the flock with rhythmic regularity.
Do the chirps and calls keep time for them?
And all of a sudden, my presence calls them back into the air. They scatter in panic to the nearest perch for safety, far away from this terrestrial threat. I still myself and watch. I watch as their impulse to flock kicks in. They function together, they are so closely connected by a bond of interdependency that they can't bear to be apart for longer than a few moments. I have no idea how the decision is made, but the majority of the flock scattered to a mature Sycamore tree. They rise from the crown, just enough to be seen, and then settle back once more into the canopy. It was as though to call out, “Here we are!” It worked. From harbours all around, tiny groups dart to the safety of their friends, the safety of the tree. They regroup and pause. Taking a collective breath, they decide that the danger is over, and once again descend upon the meadow. A high sweeping arc trails from the branches, allowing them to confirm that any threat has passed before they settle again to feed.
I watched this ritual from my table and chair by the caravan. It is a mesmerising and enthralling dance full of detail in every aspect of its choreography. As a member of the audience I am privileged to observe distantly, with calm composure. I can allow myself the luxury of being soothed by their soft twittering song and the simple act of sitting and being. I am calmed at a cellular level. This goes so deep that I almost forget I have a body at all. I am an ethereal observer absorbing sights and sounds as a blessing directly into the soul. And isn't that what meditation is, being able to absorb a moment, absorb it as nourishment in whatever form it is fed to you? Some moments are harder to digest than others, but this one is a delectable lemon posset my friend Ruth makes. It slips down so easily. The unctuous, creamy oats with a tang of sweet citrus that makes you smile behind the eyes as you close them. Savouring. And then it occurs to me that perhaps this is the wrong moment to enjoy being lulled by their shifting throng and conversation because whilst my heart is slow and steady, they are so anxious, anxious to simply survive. Their behaviour comes about from a need to fulfil a basic survival imperative of eat, and try not to get eaten whilst you're doing it! As a flock, they are tightly bonded together by the act of feeding. The organisation is such that there are always members on lookout, patiently waiting their turn at the vantage points, staying vigilant and alert to danger. I wonder if those whose cleverly adapted beaks are pulling seeds from the thistles are, for these brief moments relaxed and enjoying their food? Are they so focused on gaining enough calories to fuel the day that they forget about the Sparrowhawks who nested in the woods nearby? Do they have unerring faith in the watchers? Are all goldfinches created equal, with equal trust and equal observational skills? I am no bird behaviourist but I am fascinated by the signals, the timing and how coordinated they are. How do they know when to hop up above the milk thistle and on to the towering hogweed when it is their time to watch? Are they so tuned in to the needs of one another that they know? Their intuition is unerring.
I am truly envious of this level of connection, but not of the driver which makes it necessary. Can I do this? Can I be envious of their oneness, their community led behaviour and still enjoy watching it as a soothing meditation? Can it be all?
The anxiety which cements them together is one of their strongest assets. It is how they have learned to survive as a species, through cooperation, through coordination and through an enviable level of organisation.
They have no other way.
I smile, I sip my coffee and I watched the show.
Welsh Dark Skies Week stargazing
The sky cleared and stars appeared, multiplying exponentially as the darkness fell. Magic!
Such an honour to be a part of 🌟Welsh Dark Skies Week! ✨ in collaboration with the Anglesey Astronomical Society.
We are in the process of establishing a dark skies observatory for the use of the local community and surrounding areas.
The project has been gifted an observatory and two deep-sky telescopes in honour of the late Robert Busby and Phil Braden. Renovated and refurbished by the Seiriol Men’s Shed and many dedicated volunteers, the observatory will be dedicated as the ‘Arsyllfa Busby-Braden Observatory’ in honour of the two amateur astronomers who had a shared curiosity for that which is unknown.
Working in conjunction with Anglesey AONB and Eryri Dark Skies team we are hosting events for the local community.
Anglesey Astronomical Society stargazing evening
A fabulous evening with Gavin Malone from the Anglesey Astronomical Society, we explored several different types of telescopes.
We are in the process of establishing a dark skies observatory for the use of the local community and surrounding areas. The project has been gifted an observatory and two deep-sky telescopes in honour of the late Robert Busby and Phil Braden. Working in conjunction with Anglesey AONB and Eryri Dark Skies team we are hosting events for the local community.
Hen Galan - Welsh New Year
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda - Hen Galan - the old new year - Calennig apples - toast with holes - joyful voices - Mari Lwyd - cider spilled - the trees awake! May the new year begin!
A magical afternoon with Kristoffer, the Anglesey Druid Order and many friends old and new.
🍎Old apple tree, we wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
Till apples come another year.
🍎For to bear well, and to bloom well
So merry let us be,
Let every man take off his hat,
And shout to the old apple tree!
🍎Old apple tree, we wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear Hatfuls, capfuls and three bushel bagsful
And a little heap under the stairs,
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
⭐️Calenning - tôn, Ymdaith Gwyr Harlech Blwyddyn Newydd dda, gyfeillion,
Rown i chwi o eigion calon, Nawr trwy ganu pêr alawon,
⭐️Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.
⭐️Yr hen flwyddyn a aeth heibio,
‘R hyn oedd ynddi gas ei guddion,
Blwyddyn Newydd wedi gwawrio,
⭐️Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
Anglesey Astronomical Society stargazing evening
Jupiter, the Orion Nebulae and the Andromeda galazy. The clear dark skies were filled with a plethora of stars, plants, star nurseries and galaxies. Such a treat to get up close with the 8” Skywatcher telescope. Thanks to Gavin Malone from the Anglesey Astronomical Society.
We are in the process of establishing a dark skies observatory for the use of the local community and surrounding areas. The project has been gifted an observatory and two deep-sky telescopes in honour of the late Robert Busby and Phil Braden. Working in conjunction with Anglesey AONB and Eryri Dark Skies team we are hosting events for the local community.
Filkin's Drift in the Moon Gate Garden
Residency of Alice McCabe & Amy Ash
Pleased to have hosted Alice McCabe (UK) and Amy Ash (CA) at Plas Bodfa in August 2023. Their collaborative work, under the moniker of Adventitious Routes & Rhizomes, looks to the characteristics, language, mythology and historical contexts of plants for guidance. With plants as their mentors, Adventitious Routes & Rhizomes translate plant wisdom through varied methodologies as a means to both disrupt systems and discuss difficult topics that resonate into the realm of human communities.
Their works at Bodfa were leading up to a show at window135, a small but active vitrine gallery and performance space in New Cross Gate, London, UK. Since opening in 2004, window 135 have developed a mandate of showing a new exhibition every week, highlighting exciting new works and practices.
Isdyfiant workshop - Bramble - field trip to Bodfa
What a day it was - participants took a trip to Plas Bodfa to learn about the history of the 100-year-old manor house, while simultaneously exploring creativity through the actions of brambles, 'a many headed beast that can regrow from almost any of its body parts, relentless, persistant, almost impossible to suppress' (Julie Upmeyer).
Brambles! Photos from the Isdyfiant workshop - Brambles by Julie Upmeyer with a field trip to Plas Bodfa. As part of the Isdyfiant programme of Mostyn Gallery
Welsh Historic Garden’s Trust - Garden Party
We hosted the annual garden party of the Welsh Historic Garden’s Trust in the Moon Gate Garden. They have all been so generous with their time, knowledge and extra plants. We have been working together to uncover the Chinese characteristics of our North Garden. The moon gate, the layering and dimensions created by the terracing, elements of the ’borrowed landscape’ with views to the mountains.
The team of volunteers came to work in the garden each week leading up to their party. It was a productive and connective experience for all of us! So much accomplished and learned. As part of the work, we re-discovered the stairs to the left of the moon gate and rebuilt them.
Reid Anderson - Greenhouse Session
We gathered in the greenhouse for an acoustic set by singer-songwriter Reid Anderson. Afterwards we celebrated the global premier of ‘Whalebone’, the epic music video that was filmed at Plas Bodfa earlier in the year.
Open Grounds for Open Studios
The outdoor spaces of Plas Bodfa were open as part of Anglesey Arts Weeks Open Studios 2023. A glimpse into the ongoing creative projects at Plas Bodfa.
- Live Acoustic set from Reid Anderson
- ‘Christ of Agony’ film premier Ynyr Pritchard’s composition for drowned piano and dispersed tape
- Limestone pursuits by Mari Rose Pritchard and Julie Upmeyer
- Living willow orbs by Maggie Evans
- Standing stones stories by Norman Payne
- Greenhouse takeover by Mary Thomas
- ‘Floating Vessels II - Revenants’ by Sian Hughes
Hen Galan - Welsh New Year
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda - Hen Galan - the old new year - Calennig apples - toast with holes - joyful voices - Mari Lwyd - cider spilled - the trees awake! May the new year begin!
A magical afternoon with Kristoffer, the Anglesey Druid Order and many friends old and new.
🍎Old apple tree, we wassail thee
And hoping thou wilt bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
Till apples come another year.
🍎For to bear well, and to bloom well
So merry let us be,
Let every man take off his hat,
And shout to the old apple tree!
🍎Old apple tree, we wassail thee,
And hoping thou wilt bear Hatfuls, capfuls and three bushel bagsful
And a little heap under the stairs,
Hip, Hip, Hooray!
⭐️Calenning - tôn, Ymdaith Gwyr Harlech Blwyddyn Newydd dda, gyfeillion,
Rown i chwi o eigion calon, Nawr trwy ganu pêr alawon,
⭐️Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.
⭐️Yr hen flwyddyn a aeth heibio,
‘R hyn oedd ynddi gas ei guddion,
Blwyddyn Newydd wedi gwawrio,
⭐️Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!
Art Night - Watch party and greenhouse performance
The possibilities of a greenhouse in the dark. It was magical evening, contributing live to the final Noson Gelf Art Nights from Culture Colony live on AMAM
Streaming live from the greenhouse, we premiered two entirely new works from the duo of Charles Gershome and Dr Edward Wright and Nid Kurtz (Laurie Gane)
‘The First Story’ by Charles Gershom, Edward Wright
Blending 100,000 years of oral tradition with the methodologies of astronomical encoded motifs. Manifest as Sound.
‘Elliot – Wittgenstein’ by Nid Kurtz
Laurie Gane, philosopher/musician
John Lawrence, musician @infinitychimps (ex Gorkys Zygotic Mynci)
Music compositions by Katherine Betteridge. @katherinebetteridgecreatrix
Poems by TS Eliot
Philosophy by Ludwig Wittgenstein
A convergence of language and reality, the opposing pressures of words and sound, a semi-improvisational celebration of the anniversary of two major influences in Gane’s life – ‘The Waste Land’ by T.S Elliot and ’Tractatus Logico Philosophicus’ by Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Many thanks to Pete Telfer and Eddie Ladd for virtually hosting us!
The Christ of Agony (a passion) performance
Building upon his previous work ‘boddi’, (performed on the newly drowned piano one year ago), Ynyr Pritchard performed an entirely new composition, on and around the piano, which has spent a full year now fully immersed in the pond at Plas Bodfa. Using the structure of the Passion of Christ, along with a ruler, speakers, a bicycle tyre inner tube, two brushes, a piece of plastic sheeting and a large piece of white cloth, Pritchard explores issues of climate change, war, protest and the inevitable passage of time.
for drowned piano and dispersed tape
Duration : ~56’34”
celebrating one year of ‘Piano Drowning’
by Annea Lockwood
composed and presented by Ynyr Pritchard
24th of September 2022
Full documentation on the
‘Piano Drowning’ Project page
Utopias Bach - a Deconstructed Conference
The Utopas Bach ‘Deconstructed Conference’ was an experiment in how to run a conference in a different way. All those involved in Utopias Bach were invited (and open to all), bringing together the various parts of the strawberry plant to exchange experiences, ideas, learnings, to see what we’ve done, where we are at and what next. More than 30 human people came, some with us from the start, some new on the day… along with about 30 toad tadpoles, 4 greylag geese and numerous other beings…
So beautifully documented on this webpage
Lo-Fi Festival
a festival of sounds, making, icecream, virtual reality sessions, cooking, performance and crafts
Bodfa Continuum exhibition
history, storytelling and contemporary art collided in this fusion exhibition occupying the entirety of Plas Bodfa - 69 creative projects from over 77 artists, makers and creative people and over 2,300 visitors!
Full Documentation Here
Boddi, for drowned piano
Piano Drowning is one of three scores from Annea Lockwood’s ‘Piano Transplants’ series, in which pianos are placed in specific locations that would somehow alter their physical states. Removing the piano from the concert hall and living room, bringing the instruments into direct contact with the forces of nature, she allows the pianos to be played by the environment in which they are situated. In this occurrence, the pond at Plas Bodfa.
Full Documentation Here
For the installation’s opening in 2021, Soundlands presented a new piano work specially commissioned for Piano Drowning at Plas Bodfa. The work is composed by Ynyr Pritchard and performed on the partially submerged piano by the composer and Xenia Pestova Bennett.
Sounds for an Empty House - 24 hour livestream
Soundlands and Plas Bodfa Projects presents:
an audio exploration of Plas Bodfa in two parts
- a 24-hour livestream
Sounds created by the Plas Bodfa itself and its immediate surroundings were live-mixed, augmented and manipulated by 24 local sound artists and creatives.
- an album with three sides
created by 44 Welsh and International sound artists in dialogue with an empty house. Each track is a unique and innovative remix, using only recordings from the 24-hour livestream as source material.
Full Documentation Here
Unus Multorum Exhibition
“Unus Multorum, the exhibition that lockdown unleashed”
— Mari Rose Pritchard
This about a group of people. These individuals are connected by the fact that they were supposed to have exhibited together at Plas Bodfa. Their ideas, energies, artworks, performances and projects were supposed to have occupied one space, at the same time, experienced by hundreds of others in situ. As with most things in the infamous year of 2020, it didn’t happen this way.
Something else happened!
Livestreams and live exhibition tours, interviews and remote installations.
Full Documentation Here
Sui Generis Book Launch
The official book launch for the Sui Generis publication. All of the artists and creatives involved in the exhibition were invited for the celebration.
‘Sui Generis - The Possibilities of a House’ was is an exploration of Plas Bodfa, a 100 year old manor house on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales. In April 2019, 66 creatives filled the empty house with 67 projects: performance and painting, collage and ceramics, skateboarding and singing, poetry and polyrhythmic drumming, fairytales and photography, games and gramophones, sculpture and storytelling, re-enactments and a retroscope. The exhibition attracted 1,393 visitors the duration of the 16 days it was open. This book tells the story.