The Arts Society West Mercia Area

Summaries of the current Arts projects carried out by the Societies in our area will appear here shortly.

Blockley - At our New Year Lunch in 2018 I invited Keyna Doran who helps to run a charity in Chipping Campden which helps disadvantaged young people to access the arts. She spoke to our attendees about the work of ‘Campden Edge’. We held a raffle and the money raised was then match funded by the Society. We used the money for this year’s raffle to do the same.

Here is Keyna’s report when asked for feed back to the committee as to how the money was spent:

Annual Report - We have supported 7 students with £ 2613.47 of Grants.

One off Student grants are as follows:

CE11 – Royal College of Music £200

CE12 – Dance kit for Northern School of Contemporary Dance £109.47

On-going lessons are as follows:

CE5 & 6 – Drama Lessons £616

CE3 – Drum Lessons £764

CE13 & 14 – Drama Lessons £924

Support for Schools - We are currently setting up a scheme to allocate some of the monies we raise each year to fund individual, financially disadvantaged pupils going on arts school trips/events. This would be a pool of money set aside annually. Eligible schools in the Campden Edge catchment area are Chipping Campden School Academy and 7 primary schools.

Instrument Library - We also run a virtual instrument library where unwanted instruments can be placed with students. Two Guitars and a Piano have been donated to learners; and an electronic Keyboard has also been lent out twice.

Keyna Doran – (www.campdenedge.org) will be invited back to the committee during the following year to report on spend

Brecknock The society sponsored a final year drama student at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama to the tune of £250 and members attended the graduation ceremony at which Arabella Cordelia Neale was presented with the Sarah Siddons Award for the best female student actress in a classical role.

The society still continues to follow the progress of the first recipient of the bursary, Rhys Warmsley; he was one of four actors taking part in a centenary concert for the Welsh Guards on March 15, 2015 in Cardiff and subsequently he was further selected for a master class with Mathew Rhys.

Bristol Details of the Society's Volunteering activities can be found on their webpage. Click here for the link to Bristol YA

Cheltenham - St Mark's Cof E Junior School celebrated it's 5th anniversary in 2018. The Arts Society paid for an artist to come in and help some of the pupils to make a large commemorative plaque to go on the Reception wall. All pupils in school took part in a competition for the winning design.

The Butterfly Garden : exhibition of work from many of the young people who go to BFG.. It was over a three day event and over 200 people visited the venue - The Gardens Gallery, Cheltenham.

Gloucestershire Young Carers – There were two evening sessions at their Youth Club in Whaddon with an artist. YA Cheltenham paid for her time and materials.

We had no external grants. There was £500 from AS Cheltenham and we raised the rest from weekly raffles!!!

Cirencester This summer, the society ran a wonderful day for deaf children in Gloucestershire. Three age groups came together at Barnwood to produce a fabulous collage of their individual boats and, when finished, this will be mounted as a permanent feature at their centre. Youngsters and parents enjoyed a BBQ lunch and it was a very happy and successful day. The society donated £500 to support the event.

Corinium In 2016 we started an interesting project at Minchinhampton Junior School. A local author was paid to spend a day at the school helping pupils to start writing chapters of a book (he wrote the first chapter) and to illustrate it. When it is completed in Spring 2017 it will be published and sold by a local publishing company.

The Arts Society Cirencester and The Arts Society Corinium are both contributing towards the costs and West Mercia Area have also made a significant grant towards the costs.

In 2017 the two societies are sponsoring local schools to make a quilt and a series of mosaic panels which will feature the 900th anniversary of the founding of St. Mary's Abbey in Cirencester. West Mercia Area are also making a financial contribution to this unique Festival.

Evesham - We are sponsoring printed publicity for The Evesham Tapestry, sets of historic embroidered scenes all contributed by local groups and individuals sewn onto 3 enormous display panels planned under the initial aegis of Rotary organised by enthusiast Sandra Capaldi.

We are sponsoring summer 2025 Worcestershire Open Studios via their publicity needs in a cluster group with AS Malvern Hills and AS Worcester. Artists open their studios and/or prepare exhibits for the public to come and see works and spaces.

Hereford -

We are sponsoring a Lecture during the annual Ledbury Poetry Festival which takes place late June/early July.

In 2024 we helped a local primary school with the means of a grant which enabled pupils to visit a studio and experienced how to use the technique of photographing clay objects and creating short films for their project 'Countries of the World. The films were shown in July at the Kindle Centre, for parents, visitors and members of Hereford Arts Society. A plaque was presented to the school congratulating their achievements.

Volunteers help maintain the historic Blackfriars Rose Gardens in Hereford

Malvern Hills -

In 2023 Malvern Hills funded the Eastnor Primary School’s history timeline project. Pictures from the project can be found here. On completion of the project, Lucy Rambridge, project and history lead at the school, sent the following to TASMH:

“We are delighted to have now completed our recent timeline project funded by The Arts Society Malvern Hills. This has been a really exciting project from start to finish and we are so grateful to have been approached by Libby Allen, who spear-heads the Community Arts Grant on behalf of the Arts Society.

With the help of a design company called Creativo, children at Eastnor Primary School designed their timeline and produced artwork to accompany significant events from world history that are part of their school curriculum. As well as being, at its centre, an art project, the desired outcome of the project was to create a whole school timeline that could be used by children of all ages to support their learning in History and their chronological understanding. This truly is a unique project and the designers at Creativo, who have supplied many timelines to schools, said that it was the first one that they have produced which features children’s work. This means that pupils at Eastnor have ownership over this timeline, which represents their work, as well as significant historical events in their own locality.”

Monmouthshire Many hours of research, design, consultation, planning and preparation have been put into the creation of a WW1 Commemorative Community Quilt. The final cost was £2500 which included the proceeds of a Christmas raffle organised by the society and a grant of £1500 from the Patricia Fay Memorial Fund. So many design demonstrations and textile techniques were taught. In total, over 130 Year 6 and Year 9 pupils took part. Themes were WW1 trenches, the front line, the role of animals, nurses and poppies. Children learned techniques of embroidery, tie dye, carrot and potato printing, screen printing and felting. The finished quilt will be displayed throughout Monmouthshire and there is the possibility of display at the Eisteddfodd. The Arts Society has been highly promoted in newspaper articles It is shown above to the right..

Painswick - The Art Society Painswick celebrated their 50th Anniversary at Stroud Museum in the Park with a special pop up exhibition entitled Nature’s Golden Moments. The show included works by members of the society, covering a wide range of media including watercolours, oils, embroidery and photography.

Two community artists Tracy Spiers and Susie Walker held workshops that involved local school children from The Croft Primary School Painswick in producing a colourful collection of bugs and beetles. The artists also worked closely with Gloucestershire Young Carers in designing mirrors and fridge magnets. There were also free drop in craft workshops for all ages, a children’s trail as well as a pop up cafe.

It is estimated that seven hundred people were involved including everyone who visited and supported the event and worked in the workshops organised beforehand. The society contribution to the event was £2000.

Severn Valley The society is proposing to approach several local primary schools to submit applications for a bursary enabling the chosen school to have a visual arts workshop leading to a permanent installation made by the children under the guidance of a professional artist on a theme of their own choice.

Upper Thames The society donated £500 to help fund craft work for 60 severely challenged, autistic young people. This included the starting up of a spinning project and helped finance a spinning wheel, tools and materials and other craft essentials. The completed work was exhibited at an open day in June.

West Wales -

In 2024, the Young Arts team offered financial support to two very talented young Pembrokeshire brass players who had both gained places in the National Youth Brass Band of Wales.

Members of the Young Arts team attended one of the NYBBW's concerts in St David's Cathedral in late July and were hugely impressed by the talent and the exciting programme.

These talented young players offered a glimpse into the future where music and creativity will still be valued and celebrated in great performances.

For 2025, the Young Arts team plan something completely different. In collaboration with the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, we hope to enable a creative design project with The Torch and up to three local schools. This year's pantomime, Rapunzel, will be the focus of our project with local young people.

Worcester

In 2023 we funded the Eastnor Primary School’s history timeline project. Pictures from the project can be found here. On completion of the project, Lucy Rambridge, project and history lead at the school, sent the following to TASMH: