Just fantastic! Take a look at these fantastic paintings on show in Hartlepool - and all created by some amazing children

Colourful photos have gone in display at Hartlepool Art Gallery and they have one thing in common – they were all created by children with special educational needs.

Seven weeks of work went into the project which was organised by the town group 1 Hart, 1 Mind, 1Future. It had support from the Thirteen Group as part of their community fund grant.

The end result, said 1 Hart, 1 Mind, 1 Future Parent Carer Link Worker Tracie Bestford, was some “fantastic work”.

And the public can get to see it as the display will remain on show until the end of August at the gallery in Church Square.

Tracie added: “It has been a real pleasure to see all the families enjoy these sessions and also their faces when we launched the exhibition on Wednesday.

"They were all very proud to have their art work displayed on the walls in the art gallery."

The group ran twice-a-week sessions to encourage children to show their skills in art.

Tracie said: “We wanted to show our local community just have talented our children are and how regardless of their additional needs they are just as able as any other child. We named our exhibition ‘Celebrating Ability’.

“We had the fantastic support from Caroline Shilson, a cultural information officer at Hartlepool Borough Council and all the staff at Hartlepool Art Gallery, which is where all of our sessions were held. We also had our resident artist Keith Robson who mentored the children during each session.”

The funding support allowed after-school art sessions to be held ‘for our children who have special educational needs and their siblings (who are all registered young carers). This gave families a chance to come together in a safe environment to enjoy some art therapy,” Tracie added.

“The exhibition will be on display to the public till the end of August and we highly recommend our community to come and see the fantastic work the children have created.”

She also urged more people to find out all about 1 Hart, 1 Mind, 1 Future.

“Families are more than welcome to come and join our friendly forum. They can just register via our website www.1hart1mind1future.co.uk or email me tracie.bestford@hartlepoolcarers.org.uk”

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