Residents at Bradley Manor have unveiled their Linking Generations Garden Wall Art project which was completed last week.
The project was funded by Play Resource who facilitated the funding through Arts Council involvement with them. Those involved then developed this project by making it intergenerational involving pupils from Holy Cross Girls’ School and Holy Cross Boys’ School, artist Grainne Kielty, Activities Coordinator Gillian and residents in Bradley Manor.
Bradley Manor Activities Coordinator, Gillian Masson told us “Those involved in the project have been working together, one day a week, since the beginning of November. The project started with a visit to each of the schools where the children were asked to create drawings of flowers etc.
The boys visited Bradley Manor in the mornings and the girls in the afternoons, the small pictures that the children had made were used to create the wall art. Grainne and I drew in chalk versions of the children’s art on 8ft boards which were then painted by the children and the residents during the sessions. Grainne and I then finished off the finer details of the artwork at end of each visit.
This afternoon (Wednesday) we held a celebration party at Bradley Manor bringing together everyone involved in our Linking Generations Garden Wall Art Project. Huge thanks to everyone involved.”
Kevin McArevey, Principal Holy Cross Boys’ School said “We’re absolutely delighted to have been involved with such an innovative project which has resulted in a fantastic piece of artwork now on display at Bradley Manor. The boys have learned a tremendous amount from being involved and their visits to the home have really enhanced their social skills as they were able to connect with elders, experienced turn-taking and took on responsibilities for tasks. This project has enabled us to strengthen our relationship with Bradley Manor and we look forward to developing our relationship further. We have a philosophy project planned with them during which we will look at comparisons through identity and change this will cover a range of subjects such as loneliness, gratitude, happiness and prejudice. It will be really helpful for the boys to discuss these subjects with the people living at Bradley Manor to help them make comparisons.”
We also spoke to Maura McNally, Principal Holy Cross Girls’ School she spoke with pride about the links the school has held with Bradley Manor during the last four years. She told us “The girls are closely linked with Bradley Manor as part of their Intergenerational work. It’s really helping them to make good connections in our local community. We were really pleased to be involved in the Art project with the professional artist, it was a great experience for them and the result is wonderful. We have previously done art work with Bradley Manor, the children made some tiles engraved with leaf patterns from printing with leaves in to the clay. We also take the children to the home during different seasonal events throughout the year, singing Christmas songs, St Patrick’s Day party and making Easter Bonnets.” She explained that the intergenerational links were very important to the school. She said “Holy Cross Girls’ School, have previously been Dementia Friendly Awards finalists with Bradley Manor and we want the children to learn about dementia. We recently provided Dementia Awareness Sessions for those in years 5 & 6 all of the children were very proud to be awarded with their Dementia Awareness Certificates.”
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