March 2021

Here we are at the start of March and there has been a feeling of spring in the air. We hope that this finds you all well and looking forward to increasingly to warmer days.

As Easter is now only a few weeks away, the team have spent a fair amount of time contemplating the annual Easter trail. This has always opened huge opportunities to engage and work with a variety of people from all walks of life. Last year, of course, it had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the first lockdown. After much thought we felt that it would be a wonderful thing to try to rethink the trail within the current restrictions and offer something that supports families, the retailers and scatters a little joy after a year which for many has been a bit of a slog. This year’s trail is called ‘Emerging Hope’ and as I type this, we have groups of young people drawing pictures which illustrate for them the mix of feelings which they have experienced in the last year. These pictures will be collaged onto giant hearts and we shall add a little extra into each heart by hiding butterflies within the pictures. It would not be the Easter trail without an animal or some type!                                                                                                                                                                                                                              These hearts will be put up predominately round the Galleries and the aim is to run the trail throughout April and maybe into early May, instead of just two weeks of the Easter holidays. This will give more time for people to view the artwork without encouraging too much gathering. We are also exploring how possible it would be to produce a virtual trail so that people can access the trail even if they still do not feel comfortable coming into town.

In addition to the trail, we are aiming to provide ‘bags of love’ that will go to schools and groups. We really want to reach out to families and give a sense of support, care, love, and joy after a tough time. These bags will contain a ‘make your own Easter garden kit’ plus story, a family scavenger hunts, boredom busting things to do, wonderings and other bits and bobs for families to use through the Easter holidays. We would love for as families to have the opportunity to explore the Easter story through the gifts that are included in the bags.

To make this a reality, as you can imagine, we need to buy lots of compost, tubs and seeds or bulbs for the Easter gardens and many bags! We were wondering if you lovely folk could join us in this venture by giving a donation via The Ark’s Stewardship account to help us buy all the necessary materials needed! This will really be an exciting collaborative effort as we are also being supported by the business community and Galleries management team. So, if you can help in any way, we would be so grateful. Thank you.                                            To donate via Stewardship please follow this link https://www.give.net/20330561

 

Thank you for all your support.

Warm wishes from

Jenny, Heidi, Alex, and Niall.