St. David's Day weekend brings dragons, pilgrimages and concerts to St Davids and the West Midlands
st. david's day falls each year on 1 March and this year lands on Sunday, prompting a cluster of events from Wales to the West Midlands that mix parades, pilgrimage and music.
St. David's Day events across the West Midlands
On the Saturday before the holiday there are two concerts in the West Midlands. The West Midlands Concert Band will play a Music for a SpringTime evening at St Margaret of Antioch in Hasbury, Halesowen at 19: 00 GMT (2: 00 p. m. ET). The free concert is described as having "a Welsh flavour, " with free refreshments including Welsh cakes and a church full of daffodils. Also on Saturday night a concert at Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury starts at 19: 30 (2: 30 p. m. ET) and features the Penybontfawr Male Voice Choir and Meibion Goronwy Male Voice Choir; the event is presented by the North Wales Association of Male Voice Choirs in support of Alzheimer's Society Shropshire.
Dragons, market and workshops in Britain’s smallest city
Wales's smallest city is staging a weekend of events that build to the St Davids Dragons Parade on Saturday 28 February, with participants gathering at 1. 30 p. m. (8: 30 a. m. ET) and the procession stepping off at 2. 00 p. m. (9: 00 a. m. ET). Organised through Oriel y Parc with community and Welsh Government support, the parade will see schoolchildren, community groups and residents processing behind handmade dragons, giant daffodils and banners along the High Street between Oriel y Parc and Cross Square, circling the square before returning and turning the city into a corridor of red, green and gold.
Pilgrimage and worship on March 1
From the parade and a St David's Day Market in Cross Square (9: 00 a. m. to 4: 00 p. m. on Saturday, Feb. 28 — 4: 00 a. m. to 11: 00 a. m. ET), attention shifts to pilgrimage and worship on Sunday, 1 March. A six-mile guided pilgrimage organised by Journeying will set out from Porthclais Harbour and trace the coast past St Non’s and Oriel y Parc into St Davids Cathedral, finishing with prayers at the shrine of St David. Tŷ’r Pererin and the cathedral are leading a Gŵyl Dewi pilgrimage from David’s Holy Well at Porthclais timed to arrive at the cathedral late morning. Families can pick up a pilgrim pass from Oriel y Parc or the National Trust shop and follow an adventure trail through the city to the shrine across the weekend.
Concerts, talks and choirs in towns and churches
On Sunday at 14: 00 (9: 00 a. m. ET) The Brampton Museum in Newcastle Under Lyme will host a special St David's Day talk by Stuart Haywood, the author of The Welsh in North Staffordshire. Haywood is the current chairman of The Stoke-on-Trent & District Welsh Society and his research into the migration of Welsh people to north Staffordshire, chiefly during the Victorian era, informed his book; his presentation will concentrate on the locations within north Staffordshire where migrants settled, their incentives to move there and how the communities were set up. Later on Sunday a concert at Cradley Church in Cradley, Herefordshire starts at 15: 00 (10: 00 a. m. ET) and features the Malvern Male Voice Choir and harpist Shelley Fairplay. Tickets cost £18, including refreshments, with all proceeds to be shared equally between Cradley Church and Cradley Village Hall.
Races, concerts and the weekend curtain-raiser
Other confirmed elements of the weekend include a St David’s Celebration Concert at St Davids Cathedral on 27 February in support of the Army Benevolent Fund, and the Ras Dewi Sant Marathon, Half Marathon and 10K kicking off at 7: 45 a. m. on Saturday (2: 45 a. m. ET). The St David’s Day Stone at Oriel y Parc will be illuminated at 12 noon on Sunday (7: 00 a. m. ET). Oriel y Parc has been running free drop-in creative sessions for dragon headdresses and a paid Dragon Wings & Giant Daffodils workshop, while storytelling sessions titled Taith y Chwedlau / Journey of the Legends are scheduled in the Oriel y Parc courtyard before and after the parade to bring city-wide legends to life.
The weekend carries forward from the cathedral curtain-raiser on Feb. 27 through the parade, market and workshops on Feb. 28 and the pilgrimages and shrine services on 1 March; those are the next confirmed events on the schedule.
