Busy times …

It has been a busy time of late, but I have enjoyed every minute of it.

In my previous life as Arts Development Officer in Cheltenham, I attended a meeting at the Everyman Theatre to plan activities and events to mark the centenary of the outbreak of WWI.

I suggested, at the time that we might place visual artists, theatre practitioners and musicians into a cluster of Gloucestershire Schools. A year or so later, I was invited to be one of those artists and I spent four inspiring afternoons working with 7 and 8 year olds at Stroud Valley Community Primary School.

I cut up a lot of canvas into small squares and the youngsters painted parts of larger canvases, representing the trenches, the same scene with poppies and a collage of various small pictures. I think that the results are stunning and they were displayed at Cheltenham Town Hall on Thursday night, when children, teachers and parents had an opportunity to enjoy special performances too.