Celebration Time
Today was the final Extra Time session for the Super Sewter Dudes and the Beech House Bakers; the time has flown by and it’s hard to believe we’ve come to the end of another season.
What a lot we had to celebrate today. The group started by playing a little pen football to music, after which they selected their favourite bit of the pattern – a bit that ‘epitomised’ their Extra Time experience.
The choice made, they next glued it down onto a plain postcard – and put it aside until later.
We then had a positive gallop through their work, including the Player’s Cards listing skills such as ‘resilience’ and ‘keeping everyone happy’, the table-top football games with players in chosen colours of orange/purple and pink/white and the booklets created with Dean.
Dean recited the Beech House Trophy Cabinet poem and followed it up with one he created in the Museum – an A to Z of sporting events. The image of ‘jet ski juggling’ and ‘underwater ice hockey’ will stay with me for quite some time.
The residents had decorated biscuits reflecting the Extra Time theme of football and medals; it was a lovely gesture and the children thoroughly enjoyed them.
And then it was back to work on the postcards, this time discussing all the things they had discovered about their heritage at the Halesworth and District Museum and then choosing one of those things to write on their postcards.
A postcard needs a destination and the Extra Time Heritage Cards were soon allocated to family members, some close by and some as far afield as Australia.
We also chatted about the funders – in particular the National Lottery Players and how we might thank them for making Extra Time possible; a packet of postcards will be in the post next week.
Our final moments together – and the residents shared out their medallions and the children chose trophies to award to the Edgar Sewter, Beech House and the Museum.
It’s been a wonderful season and I’d like to say a huge thank you to all the lovely people who took part, including artists, volunteers and the staff at the Edgar Sewter Primary school, Beech House Residential Care Home and Halesworth and District Museum.
The real players were the children and residents, the Super Sewter Dudes and the Beech House Bakers. You’ve been magnificent; thank you for taking the time to be part of Extra Time.
First they played pen football to music
Although they drew patterns on large sheets of green card, they only needed a piece the size of a postcard - how to choose?
Their chosen image epitomised their time spent on the project
There was such variation in the cards, the patterns were beautiful
The two teams enjoyed making the cards together and helped each other out with the tricky bits
Once stuck on the postcards, some artists added extra lines to their drawing
The residents decorated biscuits for the children
Having a chat about the Player's Card and the special skills they listed
They also chatted about the local museum and what the children had discovered there
They wrote down things they'd learned about their local heritage
Dean kept everyone in stitches
Artist Caitlin Howells chatting away to the residents
The awards ceremony, with medals and trophies for everyone
They all seem very pleased with their medals
Trophies for the Museum
Trophies for the school
Trophies for the all wonderful people at Beech House
‘I'd like to send my postcard to my cousin who lives in Ireland’
‘My brother has cerebral palsy and is in a wheel chair. I'm going to give my postcard to him.’
‘I'm going to send my postcard to Australia.’
‘Let's send our postcards to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to say thank you to all the National Lottery Players.’
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