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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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Creative Kids in Barnesby Katherine Phillips
Jan Pienkowski, well-known illustrator of many children's books, is the lead judge of the drawings submitted by children aged from 4 to 11 from the three Barnes State Primary schools. Jan has a great sense of colour and composition; he can look at a design and immediately see potential. This year he chose two winners, both from St Osmund's School. Seven year old Madeleine Wood's star, stable and infant Jesus lying on his side, in a manger, and six year old Gracie Murray's ecstatic Virgin Mary, Joseph and sheep (with choir boy ruffs) were combined superbly to create the winning Christmas card. Every single card – there were more than 300 entries – was scrutinised and discussed. This card was delivered to 8000 local households to tell them the times of the services at the six churches during Christmastide. Jan kindly donated several books for the winners and also the highly commended entries. Once the winners were decided, I visited the three schools to deliver the prizes of books and painting sets. This year each school invited me to their assembly, so I met the children and thanked them personally and on behalf of CTiB for their brilliant drawings. This gave me the chance of explaining how the churches enjoyed doing projects together and sharing ecumenical services. All three schools were warm and friendly places to visit; I felt that the children were in cherishing environments where their creative talents were appreciated and developed. At the assembly in St Osmund's School Mrs. Walbyoff, Headmistress, addressed the children and asked them how the sun made them feel? She asked if the sun was still there even when it couldn't be seen, perhaps covered with cloud. The children were bursting to say "yes". She asked how they knew this. The children talked about how they knew because the life, growth and the light that is all around them comes from the sun even though it may not be visible. Mrs Walbyoff asked if we could see Jesus? All the children said no. She asked how we knew He was there? The children talked about how we could see Jesus in the kind actions of others and how we could feel Him in our lives. And how we could read about His work on earth for us. We were then reminded that He came to serve and not to dominate and how He was a humble leader. We then said the Our Father together. I was very moved by meeting the children and staff in all the schools; it's a great job organising the competition and a privilege to be invited to three such inspiring schools. Katherine Phillips represents St. Osmund's parishioners on the Ecumenical Committee Winners of the Christmas Card Compet-ition were: Madeleine Wood, 7 and Gracie Murray, 6 both from St Osmund's. Commended were: Akiro Yashiky aged 8, Alice Byron O'Connor, 10 and Florence Murray , 11 – all from St Osmund's; Ceejay Cubitt, 10, Beth Devine aged 8 from Barnes Primary; and Marija Noori, 6 from Lowther School. |
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