An impressive new mural wall based on work produced by children can now be seen.

It’s now proudly on display at Bridport Leisure Centre close to the entrance and comes after local artist Jo Burlington worked with children attending the summer camp at the centre, going on to create a piece based directly on the youngsters’ ideas.

Jo, who is known for running the Oops Wow messy art groups, said: “I love the artwork of young children. They need to see their artwork up and around their community.”

The centre’s first ‘messy art’ project was funded by the Brit Valley Rotary Club and the charity Bridport Young Persons’ Action Trust (BYPAT), and the images reflect some of the activities that the children enjoyed during the six-week summer camp.

The camp was open each day of the week in the summer holidays and, whilst always popular, this year staff were overwhelmed by the demand.

The extra demand reflected the leisure centre’s efforts to ensure that their facilities are affordable for those struggling in the current economic climate.

Free places were made available for those children in receipt of free school dinners, with hot meals being provided each day at the camp. The centre secured Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) funding from Dorset Council to make this possible.

Centre manager Will Thrower said: “Our intention is to break down barriers to accessing our services.”

He stressed that being able to work collaboratively with others had been tremendously helpful and was clearly the way forward. Mr Thrower thanked Dorset Council, Brit Valley Rotary and BYPAT, and gratefully acknowledged the anonymous donation that had come from within the community and had helped to make the programme possible.

Plans are set for another week-long Christmas programme, and discussions are already underway towards further developing the popular summer camp for 2023.

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