Over the course of the summer term, a group of our Year 12 A-level art pupils have been visiting local care home, Lashbrook House, to paint a mural on one of their dayroom walls. Their progress was well documented on the Shiplake Art Instagram and Twitter channels and as it was their final session of painting, we went along on Friday 16 June to see the finished product!
Head of Art, Miss Jiggens, wrote the following after the mural had been completed:
‘We were asked by Lashbrook House Care Home to see if we could brighten up their dayroom with a mural. We went and met with the staff and the care home manager, Lina Nela, and following this, were given a brief. We were tasked with creating an apple blossom tree mural with birds and blossoms, much like the one that is at the main entrance to the care home which all the residence love.
Seven brilliant A-level art students offered to come and help. They then came up with the design and decided who would paint which area of the mural. We visited the care home five times over the course of the summer term to paint the mural. The first session was for drawing up the design on the wall and the rest were for painting. It was wonderful to come back each week and see the residents; they loved the students coming in and watching the painting take place.
As the weeks went by, the residents and students created such wonderful bonds, and you could see how excited they were to see them. It was such a rewarding experience seeing the students and residents interacting and you could see that both groups benefitted hugely. Each week, we had such a warm welcome from the staff and residents at the care home with drinks, ice creams and on the last day, they had even made us a cake to say thank you. We were really touched by how kind they were. Thank you Lashbrook House for having us!’
Care Home Manager, Lina Nela, said:
'We are absolutely delighted at our partnership with Shiplake College in creating a beautiful mural for our residents. The students' imagination and talent have managed to capture our lovely apple blossom tree and they have brought the outside world inside in our residents' lounge. Thank you to all involved and we look forward to continuing this great partnership!'
Residents Eric and Margaret were present during the paintings and also said the following:
'I liked showing my own paintings to the students and talking to them. It was also very relaxing watching the students painting the mural and looked forward to them coming every week. When they finished last week, I said how lovely the mural looked as it made it look like the outside had come into the lounge.'
Well done and thank you to the following pupils who got involved:
- Daniel Coles
- Oscar Smaje
- Poppy Parsons
- Freddie Stewart
- I Syms
- Sam Thornber
- Sabine Bathe-Taylor
