Carving the Community Orchard Sculptured Seat.

In the November issue of the Parish Newsletter (page 52) I described how the children of Lynsted and Norton Primary School had explored the Community cherry Orchard at Park Farm. Under the guidance of artist Will Glanfield, they had converted their ideas about the Orchard into drawings.  

Will returned to the school later in November. He had distilled the most relevant of the many ideas from the display of drawings created by the children.   His next task was to explain the techniques and tools of wood carving. Oak class was divided into smaller groups for the actual carving.  Each pupil enjoyed two sessions of ‘hands on’ carving, under Will’s close supervision.  By the end of the process, four oval relief pictures had been produced. These showed cherry fruit, a cherry tree, a beehive (there is a range of these in the Orchard) and sheep. These ovals will be set into the ‘upright’ that divides the two areas of seating on the sculpture.

Will was very pleased with the result, and Oak class teacher Mary Hogbin was most enthusiastic about how her class had been enthralled by the creative process.

The next stage will be the installation of the sculptured seat in the Orchard. You can enter a competition to name the seat before March 24th.  

This activity is part of the Park Farm Cherry Orchard Project and is funded by the Heritage Lottery via the Local Heritage Initiative. This project will allow Lynsted with Kingsdown Parish Council to develop the Orchard as a community resource. Contact the author (521 515) or Will (01227 273 511) for further details.

Bob Baxter,
Leader, Park Farm Cherry Orchard Project.