Community art for Ashton Keynes (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)
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Ashton Keynes pupils inspired to produce Jubilee art
2:20pm Wednesday 25th July 2012 in School News
By Charlotte Shepherd
Youngsters and residents who took part in the Ashton Keyn Organiser Kathryn Gray with local residents Brenda Ellison, Delia McCafferty and Val Threlfall and pupils Megan Rohlfing, Matt Huntingford, Bethany Mackinnon and Tomas Frimert
PUPILS at Ashton Keynes School have put their artistic talents to good use to produce collages in a partnership with some of the village’s older residents.
In March the school received a grant of £1,600 from Malmesbury Area Board for an art and oral history project.
Community artist Kathryn Gray worked with the Year 5 and 6 pupils, who interviewed and recorded 12 people from the village talking about life in the 1950’s.
Mrs Gray then helped pupils from the school to turn the memories into prints, which have been incorporated into two collages to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Some of the villagers also produced their own prints which have been added to the collages.
One lady interviewed recalled cycling to Cirencester in the 1950’s and seeing an average of three cars in the half-hour ride. A pupil then drew a bicycle to represent this memory which was made into a print.
A tea party for pupils and villagers was held in Ashton Keynes Village Hall to celebrate the completion of the collages, which will be displayed in the hall as a reminder of the Diamond Jubilee.
Mrs Gray said: “The children really enjoyed this project and the older residents were very positive about it. They said how mature and friendly the children were. We came up with this idea because the grant was offered for pupils to learn new skills and work with people they don’t normally work with. “There are ideas here for future projects because it went so well.”
