November 2024
November was a month full of activity, with the full HYYM team back on home turf. They hosted some new, exciting events, including a yoga session, a youth event, and a marine exhibition.
Learning about local marine life
With the increasingly bad weather, the team decided to expand the Ocean Connection Programme to include some more exciting indoor activities. These included a visit from Amgueddfa Cymru, who brought its marine exhibition all the way from Cardiff up to Rhyl Library. It was fantastic seeing the faces of passers-by getting so excited about the marine specimens that live right on their doorstep in North Wales.
Credit: Hiraeth Y Yn Môr
Connecting to the sea through yoga
Ceri from Mynydd a Môr Yoga hosted ocean-themed yoga sessions, encouraging participants to think about their breathing and movement and how that could be akin to flow of water. Bringing the practice of mindfulness and yoga into our work on ocean literacy helped highlight the many ways people can feel connected to the sea.
Credit: Ciara Taylor
Creating art with young people - and an artist!
The team collaborated with Katie Macfarlane, our Youth Engagement Officer, to deliver a youth event in Rhyl. This was a great day bringing together young people from aged 8-25 who all cared about the sea in different ways. Local artist Tim Pugh came along, encouraging all the young people to think of themselves as artists, and produced art made of natural materials on the beach. A highlight of the day was when the whole group worked together to finish off the design of a shark before the tide came and washed it away!
Sharing marine conservation goals
We hosted our seventh One Ocean Forum meeting, in which Forum helped design the digital Guide to Ocean Literacy. Forum members also continued to think ahead beyond the end of the One Ocean Forum (in January 2025) and began to produce their individual marine conservation action plans. These outlined their marine conservation goals and associated actions they would take to achieve these them.
Credit: Ciara Taylor