Getting creative at St Martins

Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin day centre members have been creating poppies to celebrate Oswestry in Bloom.

Rachel Byron, Director/Arts and health practitioner from Make a Mark, based just over the border in North Wales, regularly works with staff and volunteers at Age UK to use art to stimulate discussion and enjoyment.

Val Brown, the volunteer organiser at St Martins day centre, invited Rachel to make a creative piece of artwork for the town’s flower competition: Oswestry in Bloom. The group were inspired to make poppies out of paper and decorate them using soft pastels. The poppies were brought together in a landscape scene to be framed and put on display in Oswestry library.

Rachel said: ‘It seemed very timely to celebrate the Oswestry in Bloom competition and using art can be very stimulating for older people. It is an engaging and liberating experience for many people and particularly has a very positive effect on older adults. It was a lovely project to get involved with, created by the members of the day centre and arranged by them, they are really proud of it.’

Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin run 39 day centres across Shropshire, offering a friendly day out, a hot meal and activities for older people who cannot get about easily. For further details please call us on 01743 233 123.