Young Village Artists Celebrate Success at Castle Event

Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Alistair Cathcart warmly welcomed over a dozen families, pupils, and teachers from Primary Schools across the Borough on the evening of Tuesday 25 June 2024. 

The children, all P7 pupils, were winners of a recent drawing competition hosted by the Council's Regeneration team as part of the current Village Plan engagement programme.

Throughout May, the Regeneration team visited P7 classes in Primary schools across the Borough, delivering a fun presentation on the Village Plan process. Pupils were asked to come up with ideas for their villages and draw a picture of what they thought made their village special. The sessions were well received, with lots of excitement and innovative ideas flowing in each school.

The incredibly creative and artistic drawings were judged, and it was wonderful to get an insight into how the pupils viewed their villages and what they considered to be the best feature. One winner from each school was selected and the winning artists were notified and invited with their families and teachers to an awards event at City Hall, Bangor.

The event started with a short, fascinating history of the Castle before families were shown the winning drawings and enjoyed some refreshments with the Mayor. Each winner was then presented with a certificate and prizes by the Mayor. The winning drawings will feature in Council's new Village Plan brochures and all the ideas submitted by the pupils will be reviewed as part of Village Plan process.

The extensive Village Plan engagement programme "Your Village. Your Voice. Shaping the Future" continues with public drop-in sessions underway in each Village and an online survey available for those unable to attend. These sessions are hosted by Council officers and full details of each session can be found here: www.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk/villageplans

The online survey can be found here: https://engage.ardsandnorthdown.gov.uk/regeneration/your-village-your-voice