South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 20/06/2012

As part of South Gloucestershire Council’s plans to refurbish the play area, artists Camilla Adams and Emma Martin from Creative Youth Network have been commissioned to work with adults, children and young people to design an array of eye-catching deer which are being painted in the park for all to enjoy. In keeping with the name of the park, the Friends of Deerswood Park invited local residents to design their own colourful deer after distributing more than 700 templates within the local community.

The first animal prints were lovingly painted over the weekend with the rest of the work being carried out this Saturday ahead of a Jubilee-themed celebration which takes place at the park on Monday 4 June between 12pm and 5pm.

Lisa McArthur from the Friends of Deerswood Park group said there had been a lot of interest in the project over the weekend with many people coming to have a look at the new arrivals.

She said: “The art project to create lots of deer for the park has done really well. The community have really come together and lots of children have been helping us and it looks really good; it’s a bit like the gorilla project in Bristol. We’ve taken designs from an 18-month old baby who scribbled with some crayons to a 57-year-old woman who was really enthusiastic about the project so it’s a mix of all ages involved.”

Katherine Kearns, community landscape project officer at the council is leading on the park’s refurbishment. She is bringing part of her own childhood to Deerswood Park’s Jubilee celebrations by bringing along some homemade bunting from a piece of fabric left over from the 1977 Silver Jubilee.

She said: “My mum bought some material for the Silver Jubilee and wrapped it around me as a costume and I thought it would be great to reuse this vintage piece of material to make bunting for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.”

Cllr Claire Young, Chair of the Communities Committee, said: “As well as the fantastic project at Deerswood Park, there is so much happening in South Gloucestershire over the extended bank holiday weekend. I hope residents will come out and support the various community activities and take time out to enjoy the many great open spaces the district has to offer. A full list of events for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in South Gloucestershire is on our website at www.southglos.gov.uk/jubileeevents.”

More information about the Creative Youth Network, formerly Kingswood Foundation, is available at www.creativeyouthnetwork.org.uk
Deerswood Park has been chosen to become protected as Queen Elizabeth II Fields in Jubilee year. Further information is available at http://www.qe2fields.com/fielddetails.aspx?id=88a95384-b430-4b24-ae02-f1ac8aea2bb9