Down to a fine art – local children join Epsom care home for the world’s largest drawing festival

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Nov 07, 2019

Residents at a care home in Epsom picked up their pencils and welcomed Epsom Primary and Nursery School for The Big Draw Festival 2019.

Care UK’s Appleby House, on Longmead Road, joined in the celebrations by creating works of art around this year’s theme, ‘drawn to life’.

The residents and children created pieces of art based on their favourite story book characters from, which the children and team members also dressed up as. Everyone had lots of fun painting and drawing the characters and the children were awarded certificates for taking part.

Launched in 2000 as part of the ‘Campaign for Drawing’, The Big Draw promotes drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention, and has encouraged over four million people to get arty since its inception. This year’s theme celebrates the benefits of creative activities, especially drawing, on health and wellbeing. 2019 also marks the bicentenary of John Ruskin’s birth, founder of the Guild of St George, the charitable education trust behind the initiative.

Shona Bradbury, home manager at Appleby House, said: “Many residents at Appleby House have a keen interest in creative activities, so The Big Draw Festival provided a fantastic opportunity to showcase these skills.

“Drawing has many benefits for residents, especially those living with dementia, as it offers an alternative way to communicate and a chance to relive happy memories.

“It was great to see residents and the youngsters of Epsom Primary and Nursery School work together to create some beautiful pieces of art. We certainly have some budding artists in the making!”

Appleby House has been designed to provide residential, nursing and specialist dementia care, as well as respite, and end of life care.

Recognising the importance of artistic activities, Care UK was happy to become one of the lead sponsors for The Big Draw this year alongside organisations such as The Courtauld Institute of Art and the City of Toronto Museum. You can read more about Care UK’s national involvement here: thebigdraw.org/drawn-to-life-care-uk

To find out more about the event, please call home manager, Shona Bradbury, on 0333 4343 002 or email shona.bradbury@careuk.com

For more general information about Appleby House, please visit careuk.com/appleby-house

To find out more about The Big Draw Festival, please go to thebigdraw.org