On the surface things have been quiet at The MAking House, but behind the scenes much has been going on. Anna’s colleague, Rajesh, from India, was over for 3 weeks working on designs. Anna and Joelle have been doing lots of planning to take The MAking House forward. And then there’s been the build up to the jubilee….

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Thanks to Rufford Arts team Anna has been working with Newgate primary school in Mansfield to develop some work based around the jubilee for their sensory garden, but first it will be off to Rufford as part of their ‘A right Royal Extravaganza’ exhibition.

“The school wanted a piece to go in their sensory garden which was a little forlorn and in need of a burst of inspiration. I wanted to make something that all the children could relate to and that was fun. I wasn’t sure at first what to do for the jubilee and decided we should look at what the Queen does rather than just symbols. We looked at The Queen’s roles and visits and from there the idea of ‘A Royal Garden Party’ grew. The crown  will sit at the top of the garden bringing new life to a square bench that’s there and of course represents the Queen. The hats represent guests at the party but also the Queen’s different roles as she always wears fabulous hats on her visits and official occasions.

In the main I worked with 2 groups; ‘Starlings’ (year 2 pupils) to develop the crown and the gardening group for the hat planters. I like to involve who I’m working with at every stage of the process, so they worked on designing and making using recycled plastics, paper and jewels. It was a challenge at first working out how to involve them as they’re pretty young, but they were so enthusiastic and keen to take part that they gave everything a go and really surprised me at times with their ideas and skills. I love the crown and hat designs that they came up with. One task was to make a crown using pipe cleaners; one of the boys came up with a design similar to the coronet crown and the group decided this was what they wanted to make.

The children made up lots of different parts, but it was only on the last day that they got to see how it all went together. As I was finishing putting up the crown, I overheard one child telling her mum all about what she’d done. It’s great that we got the opportunity to make something with such an impact and that will be in an exhibition for all to see. I surprised myself and found a new respect for The Queen and the role of the royal family; I’m really proud that we got to make this for the jubilee and hopefully the children feel the same.

I can’t wait to see them in the exhibition as well as planted up in the garden.”