There be dragons...ten of them to be exact, who have appeared about the streets of Llanidloes as part of an innovative public art project being run by local regeneration company L.L.A.N.I. Ltd. Designed by one time local artist Martin Herbert, and modelled by Sue Reeves, the dragons are carved in relief and mounted on plaques that have been attached to a number of the towns historic buildings. All the dragons have names, and now L.L.A.N.I. Ltd is seeking the assistance of the community to come up with short verses that can be included within a Dragon Trail leaflet.
Richard Dix, development officer for the company and responsible for putting the trail together explained, "The idea of the trail is to add interest to the street scene of the town and give visitors additional points of interest. But we also want to get local people to enjoy and form a connection with the dragons by coming up with little poems and stories that we can publish in a trail leaflet or on the town website. Ideally, these would give clues to each dragon's location, whilst also beginning to colour in some character for them."
In order to assist with this project, the County Times is printing pictures of all the dragons, though not their locations. Readers are invited to first locate the dragons, and then develop their poems or tales, which should be sent directly to the L.L.A.N.I. Ltd office at the Town Hall in Llanidloes, or via e-mail to llaniltd@btconnect.com A selection of the best entries will be published in future additions of the County Times...
The dragon trail forms part of a larger public art project in the town which has seen the development of statues, mosaics and carvings at various locations around the town, to fund which L.L.A.N.I. Ltd was the grateful recipient of a Environmental Improvement Grant from the Welsh Assembly Government.
