Local charity hosts farewell event for the Snowdogs of Cardiff

A farewell event is being hosted this weekend (8^th-10^th December) in Cardiff’s city centre to mark the end of Ty Hafan’s Snowdog project.

Over 5000 people are expected to attend a local charity event at the Capitol Centre this weekend as the Snowdogs of Cardiff get ready to leave for auction.

For over ten weeks, 101 fibreglass Snowdog sculptures have been unleashed into the streets of the Welsh capital in order to raise awareness for Ty Hafan.

Ty Hafan, a Welsh children’s hospice charity, have been working on this project for over 18 months, alongside the help of 43 local artists, 57 schools, youth groups and community projects, and over 15 sponsors across South Wales.

A volunteer for Ty Hafan said that: “It’s really exciting seeing everyone’s hard work being put into one room. I love it. There’s over 100 dogs in this room made by a variety of people, it’s great.”

Local schools and community projects were encouraged to personalize their ‘Snow-pups’ which were placed around Cardiff to create a trail for young children to explore.

A student from a partner Primary School, who’s favourite dog was ‘Dino Dog’, claimed that designing one of the Snowdogs was “the best experience of his life,” and that he “loved running around Cardiff to find the dogs with his Mum.”

This is not the first event of this kind that the UK has seen, however. Bristol have hosted a variety of decorated ‘Gromit’s’ from popular television show, Wallace and Gromit, whilst earlier this year Birmingham showcased a variety of colourful grizzly bears all in aid of local charities.

Ty Hafan’s Snowdog concept was inspired by the popular Christmas movie, the Snowman.

Sally Thomas, Head of Events at Ty Hafan said that this event has been different to the others across the UK.

“The fact that it’s in Wales makes it really different to other events,” said Sally, “The Welsh people have really engaged with it, we’ve got some Welsh themed dogs and it’s a really Christmassy story which gives it a lot of current relevance. The process has been really exciting.”

Rhiannon Jones was among the 43 independent artists who designed a Snowdog in aid of Ty Hafan.

“The snow dog that I created was called Enfys, which is the Welsh word for rainbow,” said Rhiannon, “I sell art work in general across Wales which shows Welsh sceneries, so I thought it was appropriate for my snow dog to show Cardiff’s iconic buildings. What you see around Enfys is all the buildings around Cardiff alongside some Welsh symbols like daffodils, the castle, the harp and a rugby ball. She represents Cardiff and what it means to be Welsh.”

The Snowdogs will be showcased at the Capitol Centre over the course of the weekend and will be available at auction on the 12^th December at the Marriott Hotel, Cardiff. For more information on tickets and about Ty Hafan’s project, follow this link: http://snowdogstailsin.wales/auction/