This year’s themes for the October Big Draw where varied and many different groups of people took part. Blue rolls of pastel paper were covered with drawings inspired by Revelations 22 verses 1 & 2. This work was done by Scouts, Cubs and Beavers under the supervision of Chris and Barry Samways and their able helpers. Yvette Lester and I visited Wickham C of E Primary School for the children to add their drawings. Rookesbury Park School added theirs under teacher supervision. Many adults also contributed to the pictures in Church on Sunday 21st October. St Nicholas Church now has the Throne, God and the Lamb plus the River and Tree of Life with myriad creatures and fruits as well as representations of the world in map and flags both sides of the Nave. Many people also did mini art of the church on the reverse of business cards; these are also on display in the church.
There was a colouring competition for 12’s and under, with the template of ‘Bridge Street – Wickham’ downloadable from the St Nicholas Church website or emailed to whoever wanted it, which included both Wickham C of E Primary School and Rookesbury Park School. There were well over 100 entries and four artists spent an afternoon deliberating over the pictures. In the end we divided the children into 4 age groups and selected a winner and runner-up. However there were so many good ones we did ‘highly commended’ as well! Certificates and prizes were given out to a winner and runner-up and 2 ‘highly commended’ at a delightful celebratory assembly at Rookesbury Park School on the 9th November – very well done to all involved.
Wickham C of E Primary had their certificates and prizes awarded after assembly on the 19th November, there were 3 winners, 3 runners-up and 18 ‘highly commended’ – a number of those awarded produced their entries in church with Chris and Barry and will be taking their certificates to the next meeting of the their pack!
An Open Art Competition was organised and run by Martin Piercy and exhibited free in Wickham Community Centre. The results of this competition can be obtained from Martin in Heming’s Art Gallery.
Grateful thanks to all who contributed their time and expertise to make this a successful event. Special thanks to Sydenhams for the timber for the pastel paper display frames, to Malcolm Frost and Neale Fray for putting the pastel display up in St Nicholas Church and the staff at Wickham Community Centre for allowing pictures, entered in the Open Competition, to be exhibited there.
Patricia Fray
