VISITORS to Barry Island are set to deck themselves out for an outdoor learning experience when a ‘Pop Up University’ accepts a promenade place.
The new seats of learning will line-up at the inspirational location of Whitmore Bay, with a lunchtime programme of 10-minute talks on Tuesday, June 30.
Speakers-turned-lecturers hope to stimulate new ideas and thinking at Barry Island’s outdoor Ampitheatre on the resort’s Eastern promenade between midday and 2pm.
The idea grew from an idea posted on the Barry IdeasBank, with the event being run as part of the Wales Festival of Innovation celebrations.
The event is free and the new scholars can stay for one talk or for the two-hour programme of 12 lectures.
Speakers will include local inspiring people as well as from the Professional Speakers Association Wales, in a diverse range of topics from the factual such as archaeology, to the motivational, on how to have more zest in your life.
Mortar boards could replace Kiss-Me-Quick hats as learners bag deckchairs and free bubble kits to encourage fresh thinking using the inspiration of the Ancient Greeks whose great philosophers lectured on the shores of the Mediterranean.
The event will be one of the first held under the new outdoor Barry Island Amphitheatre, built as part of the resort’s recent regeneration, which features a giant white canopy to protect against bad weather.
Barry Island resident Andy Green of the Barry IdeasBank, said: “We hope to use the occurrence of a stunning, inspiring location at Barry Island, along with inspiring speakers will create an entertaining and educational event, with fresh seaside air, fresh thinking and fresh ideas.”
The scheme is also a demonstration of getting local people to work together to inspire a more vibrant community.
The Flexible Thinking Forum - which runs the Barry IdeasBank - teamed up with local network groups and the Professional Speakers’ Association all offering their services for free, with deckchairs loaned by Promenade Amusements.
The Vale Council’s resort management team are also supporting the event.
For further details, visit the event’s Facebook site or the Barry IdeasBank at www.yourideasbank.org.uk
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