Down to a fine art – local students join Islington care home for the world’s largest drawing festiva

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Nov 15, 2019

Residents at a care home in Islington picked up their pencils and welcomed students for The Big Draw Festival 2019.

Residents at Care UK’s Lennox House, on Durham Road, were joined by Into University Haringey North and North Islington and celebrated the festival by creating works of art around this year’s theme, ‘drawn to life’.

Pupils and residents spent the afternoon sharing their life experiences, before creating works of art representing everything they had learnt from each other, including pictures of where they grew up and how it changed over the years.

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.

Sibusisiwe Moyo, home manager at Lennox House, said: “Here at Lennox House we firmly believe that activity-based care is essential in supporting residents to lead fulfilling lives, so The Big Draw is a fantastic initiative for us to get involved with.

“Drawing is an accessible activity that people of all ages can enjoy together, so we were delighted to welcome youngsters from Into University Haringey North and North Islington to join us for the occasion. Art, combined with intergenerational relationships, has proven benefits for older people, by offering the chance to tap into happy memories and an alternative way to communicate emotions and thoughts.

“Everyone had a wonderful day, and we can’t wait to display our masterpieces in the home!”

Lennox House has been designed to enable residents to live active and fulfilled lives. The home provides full-time residential, nursing and specialist dementia care, as well as short-term respite care.

To find out more about Lennox House care home, call customer relations manager, Samantha Neal, on 020 3393 7186, or email samantha.neal@careuk.com 

For more general information, please visit careuk.com/lennox-house

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: https://thebigdraw.org/drawn-to-life-care-uk

To find out more about the Big Draw festival, please go to thebigdraw.org