Bringing Local History Back To Life…

This year the Monday Afternoon Art Enrichment Club was commissioned to work on a special local history project by Falkland Cricket Club, supported by English Heritage.
Students initially researched the Battles of Newbury and planned what they would like to create in Art Club.

English Heritage then funded a visit to the West Berkshire Museum to primarily explore and sketch artefacts from the Civil War. Art Clubbers were fortunate to have exclusive access to the exhibits and were also able to explore other exhibitions.

As Emma Cheshire from Year 9 commented: 'It was very fun and exciting to walk around part of our town’s history. It was amazing to draw such artefacts' with Year 8’s Wendy Boxall adding, 'I enjoyed the trip because it was fun and educational...we learnt cool things about the past and history of the Civil War'.

Following on from the visit students began to create their individual pieces of work based on the Civil War. It was wonderful to see such a range of ambitious ideas developing in a wide range of Art materials. Students produced a variety of work: watercolour paintings of the Falkland Memorial and Donnington Castle, a time capsule & clay tiles depicting scenes and artefacts from the Battles of Newbury, as well as textile & papier-mâché maps showing the positions of Calvary troops from both the Royalists and Parliamentarians. As you can see from the photographs, they challenged themselves and have produced super work!

Lydia Mathias from Year 9 summed things up by saying: 'The whole project was really engaging; I enjoyed seeing all the students from different year groups working with such varied materials'

Work produced by the students will now feature as a community display in the Cricket Club’s new pavilion. This will be a fantastic opportunity to display and celebrate the group’s creative talent inspired by the rich history of the local area.

Jackie Peaple
Display Coordinator

Heritage Fund Art Video

Please check out the leaflets below for more information about the Newbury battlefield and details of the walk you can do yourself!

QUOTES FROM STUDENTS:

‘An amazing experience…so lucky to have the chance to go to the West Berkshire Museum and gain extra knowledge about the project I was doing’
‘I had so much fun making my 3D map of the First Battle of Newbury. Not everything went to plan…but I am very happy with the overall outcome’
- Jacob Howard 8TH

‘I really enjoyed creating the work for the project. There were a few challenges, but after a lot of hard work, I was left with a complete watercolour painting of the Wash Common Memorial’
- Noemi Espinar-Fisher 9AL

From left to right:

Seb Kelk 9AL, Mollie Smith 8BE, Elspeth Hemsley 8BE, Noemi Espinar-Fisher 9AL, Emma Cheshire 9OM, Erin Miller 9GA, India Harrison 9OM, Chloe Wade 9OM, Lydia Mathias 9DE, Georgina Green 9GA, Jacob Howard 8 TH and Wendy Boxall 8LA