Di Ford

Between 2015 – 2019, SPAN co-presented an annual River of Lights Lantern Parade in Haverfordwest. Initially, founded by spacetocreate, and presented in partnership with SPAN as part of The Lab; an arts and regeneration project for Haverfordwest, The River of Lights lantern parade grew into a spectacular and much loved event presented by SPAN in partnership with others. Haverfordwest has enjoyed 4 spectacular lantern parades since 2015 which have brought thousands of people together to share in a memorable, uplifting, much loved, family friendly event. This extraordinary participatory arts event quickly became a popular annual event on the Pembrokeshire calendar where artists and the community were brought together to create a memorable parade shaped by a new theme or story each year . River of Lights Lantern Parade was conceived to inspire a sense of community pride and belonging in Haverfordwest, through a large scale event that celebrated the river, the county town, the creativity of its people and its connections with the coastal communities that it serves. As part of each Lantern parade, drop in Lantern making workshops were held in a variety of settings in Haverfordwest and across the county, where hundreds of people together with artists and

A 3 year Big Lottery Funded Project to reduce isolation and loneliness through the arts and creative social activities. SPAN received £218k from Big Lottery Cheerful to reduce social, rural and economic isolation through engaging people in the arts. It was a huge success reaching over 7,000 people (including 2,102 named individuals), with 12,282 separate engagements over the last 3 years. We put on 373 activities (including workshops, outreach sessions, community events and workshop sessions in people’s homes) totalling 42,987 participant hours, generated 572 volunteer opportunities totalling 2002 volunteer hours and created a body or work and partnerships that have left a lasting legacy on SPAN and helped us to shape a new vision for Arts as Social Change in Pembrokeshire. “The program put together by SPAN has helped me by giving me a reason to keep my life as normal as possible, a reason to get out of bed get dressed and have a shave!” “I felt shut away but the project has given me a whole new lease of life”  

Caring Choirs is a programme of singing workshops in care settings in Pembrokeshire targeted at older people and people living with dementia that have been running when funding allows since 2015. The project capitalises on the restorative power of singing to deliver positive physical and mental health benefits. This singing workshop programme has proven to be hugely successful and a powerful tool in improving wellbeing. “Having the singing in the lounge has been like a ray of sunshine on a grey day.”