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

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Nov 15, 2019

Residents at a care home in Horsham picked up their pencils for The Big Draw Festival 2019.

Care UK’s Skylark House, on St Marks Lane, joined in the celebrations by creating works of art around this year’s theme, ‘drawn to life’.

The residents and team also created drawings & a collage centred around Autumn.

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.

Devendra Lallchand, home manager at Skylark House, said: “We had a fantastic time brushing up on our art skills. As well as being a great opportunity to develop our artistic abilities, drawing is a wonderful way to improve motor skills while also providing an alternative way for residents to express themselves.

“We certainly discovered we have some talented artists at Skylark House and we can’t wait to see what they create next!”

Skylark House has been designed to deliver the very best standards of care and to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives. The home provides full-time residential, nursing and dementia care, as well as short-term respite and palliative 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

For more information, please call customer relations manager, Beverly Jordan, on 01403 887 578 or email beverly.jordan@careuk.com

For more information on Skylark House, please visit careuk.com/skylark-house

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