Cartwheel Arts exhibition launch at Heywood Sports Village

Explore: Cartwheel Arts exhibition launch at Heywood Sports Village

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It was a riot of colour at Heywood Sports Village on Monday (9 October) as Cartwheel Arts unveiled two striking graffiti boards created with young people from the Darnhill estate.

They were joined by councillors Jacqui Beswick and Alan McCarthy for a vibrant finale to a lively summer activity programme run by Cartwheel with Rochdale Youth Service.

Over 40 young people took part in the project, which consisted of a rich variety of weekly creative workshops plus challenging outward-bound activities during the six-week holidays.

A video made by and with the young people was premiered and will be available for public viewing soon.

Young people showcased their creative writing and radio skills at Darnhill Festival in July.

Rick Walker, Director of Cartwheel, was delighted with the results, he said: “It is particularly pleasing to see the young people performing and telling us how much the project has boosted their confidence.”

Cartwheel ran 12 weekly arts sessions, and provided an Aspire activity marquee at Darnhill Festival. The tempting menu provided by their talented artists included creative writing and spoken word with Chris Jam and Yvonne McCalla, video and animation with Nick Farrimond and Lisa Risbec, graffiti art with Sumit Sarkar and textile art and printing with Natalie Linney and Dani Lovett.

The Youth Service ran sessions in bushcraft at their Rural Retreat near Hollingworth Lake; mountain biking; and canoeing plus other water based activities at the Water Activity Centre in Droylsden. They also ran weekly sessions with Link4Life at the Darnhill kickpitch.

The project was funded by Guinness Partnership through their Aspire fund.