Budding artists from six Thamesmead schools created more than 1,000 drawings of their favourite spots for the Southmere Lake activity map.
Pupils from Parkway Primary School, Northwood Primary School, St John Fisher Primary School, Willow Bank Primary School, Harris Garrard Primary School and Harris Garrard Academy worked with Bow Arts and artist Matt Ponting, of Doodling Around .
The youngsters visited key locations for drawing sessions with Matt. With sketchpads full of ideas, they then headed back to their classrooms to complete their artwork.
Matt was left with the difficult task of choosing which of all the brilliant designs to include in the final map.
“It’s been a lovely project and a real joy bringing together all the children’s artwork. I’m really pleased with the finished map,” Matt explains. “It’s bright and colourful. Hopefully, it will encourage people to explore the wildlife and landscape around Southmere.”
The map project was created and funded by Peabody in partnership with Bow Arts. It is part of the school superzones programme, funded by Bexley and Greenwich councils.
Peabody’s Health and Wellbeing Community Officer, Aminat Olayinka, said: “Thamesmead is beautiful. We hope drawing something that stays in the community forever encourages young people to get out there, enjoy their green spaces and embrace healthy lifestyles.”
The young participants were the first to get their hands on the new map. Groups of youngsters ventured out with the freshly printed maps to put their artwork to the test.
Visit Thamesmead Library in The Nest to collect a paper copy of the map.
