At The Redwoods Centre we have a Monday afternoon art group for inpatients.  Initially started with a big lottery grant and in partnership with Creative Inspiration Shropshire, it is now funded by the Trust. 

At Severn Fields Health Village on a Friday morning, 10.30-12.30 the art group is open to our service users in the community who need to be referred by their care co-ordinator.  The groups are run by experienced artist Jean Mills.

At St George’s Hospital on a Thursday lunchtime we have an art group run by Debbie Todd for adult acute inpatients; on Norbury ward we have Simon Watson who runs an art group and a music group for inpatients. At George Bryan Centre we are currently running some creative art sessions that link with a Tamworth-wide project called Mercian Mosaic.

This is a community project involving many schools and organisations in Tamworth as part of the Art in Unusual Places project. It is being delivered by Arts and Events at Tamworth Council and funded by Arts Council England. 

Ward staff have been involved with the project and working with  service users on it as it has proved to be very therapeutic for everyone on the wards.

Work has now been completed, including Celtic flower mosaic tiles and two 8ft figures of King Arthur! These will be showcased at Tamworth Castle on Saturday 14 July where photographs will be taken - including aerial shots taken by drones.  The photographs will then be scaled up and displayed at Tamworth Station.

Part of our work involves curating exhibitions at a range of locations around the Trust. More often than not this is artwork created by service users as part of a project and this naturally tends to be exhibited on the wards where service users can get the most enjoyment from it.

Our regular art competition is the other main source of the artwork for exhibitions. We have built up a body of work from the competitions, some of which is currently on show in the foyer at St Chad's and in reception at Mellor House. We strive to refresh this work when we can. The exhibition in Mellor House of the 2011 art competition entries will make way for pictures from this year's competition, due to be launched later on in the year.

We do also exhibit work in less public-facing areas of the Trust such as the office corridors at Mellor House in Stafford.

Are being run at The Redwoods Centre and Severn Fields Health Village in Shrewsbury.

The Redwoods Centre for inpatients from 1.30 – 3.30pm on Mondays

Severn Fields Health Village (ground floor, art room) for service users in the Shrewsbury area from 10.30-12.30pm on Fridays

The project was initially funded by Big Lottery in partnership with Creative Inspiration Shropshire and is now funded by the Trust.

The aim is to offer our service users the facility of an art group whilst they are inpatients at the Redwoods Centre – and then to have access to an appropriate art group in the community when they are discharged. The groups are run by professional artists and a range of techniques are being explored using different materials and equipment.

Some projects might lead to exhibitions of artwork within Trust buildings or in partnership spaces / galleries.

For more information please contact Jessica Kent on 01743 210048 / Jessica.kent@sssft.nhs.uk