A popular creative programme is returning for the summer holidays in Helston – and this year it is also going out into villages.

CAST-Off and CAST-Away will be offering free creative adventure for children and families, as two related strands.

CAST-Off will take place in the walled garden at Penrose, Helston on Saturdays from July 30 up until August 24 and CAST-Away is a new project that will bring free creative adventures to four different locations on the Lizard Peninsula each Wednesday, from August 3 to August 24.

Launched in the summer of 2020 on the initiative of artist and educator Lucy Grant, in response to the pandemic and supported by the CAST building in Helston, the first CAST-Off took place at sites along the Cober Valley, providing imaginative free activities outdoors. The programme quickly became popular with local families and a second CAST-Off was held last at the walled garden at Penrose.

This summer CAST-Off will again take place in the Penrose walled garden, where children are invited to join in with a range of free creative activities including pigment making, painting, brush making, pottery, wood and clay construction, botanical exploration, cyanotype photography, stone carving, serpentine polishing, felt making and nature-based printmaking.

Sessions on Saturdays run from 10am to 12 noon and 2pm to 4pm, with no need to book.

A previous CAST-Off event

A previous CAST-Off event

The new free CAST-Away programme, devised by artists Lucy Grant and Vicky Wiltshire, will take place at four locations on the Lizard Peninsula where everyone can get involved. CAST is encouraging participants to use public transport, including the new open-topped buses, where available. Some destinations will involve a walk – or even a musical procession.

The first free session between 10am and 4 pm will take place on Wednesday, August 3 in Mullion and involves a walk down Laflouder Lane and a day on Polurrian beach. There will be opportunities to join forces, shift sand and engineer dams and waterways in the stream, make pilchard windsocks and move together like a shoal of fish.

There will be a chance for clay making at the outdoor event.

There will be a chance for clay making at the outdoor event.

On Wednesday, August 10, CAST-Away will be on Gweek Village Green, where the team will offer nautical inspiration and expertise to build little boats of all kinds, from 12 noon until 6 pm – make and float a boat, or try signalling with flags.

On Wednesday, August 17 the CAST-Away location is the old serpentine works in the Poltesco Valley. Between 10am and 4 pm polish a piece of Lizard serpentine, make pilchards from clay or make and launch cuttle fish barges from the tiny quay on the beach.

The CAST-Away finale will be held on the beach at Porthoustock on Wednesday, August 24, from 12pm to 6pm, starting with a musical procession down the valley walk from St Keverne to Porthoustock. Gather at the entrance to the church in St Keverne at midday to make sound sticks with shells and bells.

Details can also be found under the Events section of https://c-a-s-t.org.uk/