Events at the Castle

I've been up at the Castle this evening, sitting in Richard's kitchen and meeting the enthusiastic group of young people who are organising the events in the Castle grounds during the Festival this year. They're producing a children's fairy tale - and the illustrator was hard at work as we talked, while my recently evicted neighbour Chris did a final edit of the story ("'Are you mad?' he asked. Sounds a bit weak, doesn't it? What else can we have?" A quick check of the thesaurus, and 'hissed' was substituted.).
Meanwhile, a Brazilian chap was cooking a chicken dinner (which Islay was very disappointed not to share in - she would have liked to meet the chinchillas that were upstairs too, which would have been a very bad idea for the chinchillas).
The girl in charge (I forgot her name more or less instantly) would like to hold theatrical events regularly at the Castle, and she's also keen to get the local community more involved in the Festival activities - hence an open stage in the Castle grounds for anyone to perform, or share their skills. There are also going to be workshops (one in making fairy wings) and a puppet show, and stalls.
Tim the Gardener had taken me up there to introduce me because he thought they needed help with costume making. It seems they don't, but I did talk a lot about costume, and re-enactment, and the girl showed me the spinning wheel she bought for £10. It's a wreck, but a wreck that is mendable, and I said I'd give her the address of a firm who do spinning wheel renovation. I saw them at Wonderwool.
They all seem very excited about the possibilities, and I wish them well.