At Living Paintings we have something for gardeners too. English Garden Design traces the history of gardening from mediaeval monastic gardens right up to the state of the art Conservatory at Kew. We can wander through the formal French style gardens, the grand landscapes of our great country houses and even learn how the Venus Fly Trap catches its food. To celebrate our 15th Anniversary in 2004 we created our 27th album which describes our very own exhibit at the Chelsea Flower Show. It also outlines the history of the Royal Horticultural Society which celebrated its 200th Anniversary that year. Imagine how many people it has inspired over 200 years!

We can all enjoy gardens without actually having to be gardeners. So many gardens are open to the public and on a warm sunny day we can meander down the paths and take pleasure in the tranquil surroundings someone else has created. No doubt a friend would describe the scene but the buzzing of insects and the beautiful perfumes are there for everyone to appreciate.

We have several garden-related books for children too. Topical Packs “The Magical Garden of Claude Monet” and “Camille and the Sunflowers” about Van Gogh are both based on Laurence Anholt’s books. They are a wonderful introduction to the work of these famous artists.

For younger children we have two more books about growing things. Jasper’s Beanstalk is the story of Jasper the Black and White cat who is a bit too impatient to be a gardener but he is rewarded in the end. The Strong Little Tree is about the challenges a little tree has to face from its beginning as a tiny acorn. Trampling cows, nibbling sheep, heavy boots and fierce storms can’t stop this sturdy little plant until it eventually grows into a mighty oak tree and sheds acorns of its own.

Coming soon!!! We have an album on British Wildflowers almost ready for the library shelves. This takes us on four evocative walks in different parts of the country and describes some of the beautiful wildflowers we might find there. There’s also a bit of botany – but you can skip that if you like, it won’t spoil your enjoyment of the album.

Click here to view our catalogues

This Newbury based mixed-voice choir consists of 20 singers who are delighted to make their debut in Highclere this year, bringing their selection of music from around the world. The choir has undertaken many successful tours in the past, in the UK and in Europe and their concert venues include Bordeaux Cathedral, Trier Cathedral and Christchurch Priory.

The concert has been organized in association with The Highclere Society and as their ‘Charity of the Year’ we are delighted to be receiving proceeds from this wonderful evening.  Funds raised will be used to support the continuation of our free postal library service of Touch to See resources for blind and partially sighted children and adults across Britain and Ireland.

Tickets are priced at £7.50 for adults and £2.50 for children under the age of 16. Tickets can be purchased from Christine on Christine@cn-sales.co.uk or Jennifer on 01635 255395.

The concert starts at 7.00pm on Sunday 27th May 2012 at Highclere Village Hall. Refreshments include tea, coffee and a cash bar. There will also be a raffle on the night.

Watership Cantabile is always interested in recruiting new members. If you are interested in singing and would like further information about the choir, please contact the Chairman, Chris Druce on 01635 865339.

Living Paintings are a FREE postal library of Touch to See books that bring to life the visual world for blind children and adults. They make the cool tactile and audio books in their production room and distribute them via their library. They have a small staff team and an army (just over 250!) of dedicated volunteers.

Donate now by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/Nick-Winter-run

Alternatively text NRUN76 £2/£5/£10 to 70070 eg. NRUN76 £5

THANK YOU for your support

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now

We were so thrilled that £501 was raised at the Parsonage Farm, Upton Spring Market this weekend. A huge thankyou to all of our supporters who kindly donated this amazing selection of home cooked produce and to our volunteer helpers on the day and John and Sarah Mills from Parsonage Farm for all their support and kindness.
 
We have never seen so many different varieties of cake in one place ! 

The Childrens Storytime Sessions were a new addition to Parsonage Farm markets and received a great response from both children and parents/grandparents who listened to a selection of childrens favourite stories.  A great way to raise money for our charity who creates specially adapted Touch to See Books for blind and partially sighted children and adults so that they can also enjoy the pleasure and knowledge that reading books brings.

Living Paintings will be having a fundraising stall at Parsonage Farm Spring Market on Sunday April 15th from 11am until 4pm.

Parsonage Farm is located in Upton (in-between Newbury and Andover), Hampshire, SP11 OJP.  If you live nearby please come along and support us.  We will be selling a range of yummy homemade cakes, biscuits and bread to enjoy.

We will also be running story time sessions for a small fee (free for anyone who is visually impaired) with some popular children’s books including “The Gruffalo”. There will be lots of copies of our Touch to See tactile versions of the books available for people to explore.

Story Sessions:

• 11.30-12.00
• 12.30-1.00
• 1.30-2.00
• 2.30-3.00

Children can be left during the Story Session (staff are CRB checked) to allow time to browse the range of stalls offering local food and crafts.

There will also be the chance to win a unique hand made knitted toy, just guess the name correctly!

We would love to see you all there, or if you would like to make and donate a cake it would be greatly appreciated. Simply drop-off any cake donations at our office in Kingsclere before 5pm on Friday 13th April.

Or if you do not live locally please consider organising a fundraising stall at one of your local events to raise funds for Living Paintings.  Please call Rachel on 01635 299771 for more information.

All funds raised will go to continuing our free postal library service for blind and partially sighted people nationwide.

Following the amazing success of our charity concert Indigo2 Rock we are so pleased to be able to share the wonderful photographs taken by professional photographer Jasper Dalgliesh that captured the special moments of the day so well.

Jasper kindly donated his services for free and has allowed us to sell the photographs so that all funds raised will go directly to Living Paintings.

If you would like to purchase one or more of these wonderful memories of the day simply make a note of the reference number of your chosen photo(s) shown on the image eg 2012 – 1234 and choose one of the following ordering methods:

• Follow the instructions below to order and pay by Paypal
• Complete the attached order form and send a cheque to our postal address below (made payable to Living Paintings).Unit 8 Kingsclere Park, Kingsclere, Newbury, Berks, RG20 4SW
• Telephone Living Paintings on 01635 299771 (between 9am and 5pm) and pay by debit or credit card

Simply click here to view photo gallery

Prices: (includes postage and packaging)

7″ x 5″ £6.50 or 2 for £10*

8″ x 10″ £12

A1 poster £30

*Unfortunately Paypal cannot facilitate the 2 for £10 offer so please either call us directly or download the order form above for this special deal.

For any additional sizes or quantities please email RachelK@livingpaintings.org 

All photographs provided will be of a professional and high quality standard, having been both captured and printed professionally.

Indigo Rock Photograph Paypal Payment Order Form

Size

7″x5″ £6.50 GBP 10″x8″ £12.00 GBP A1 Poster £30.00 GBP

Finish

Matt Gloss

Photograph Reference Number

All orders will be processed as quickly as possible and delivered within 21 days of receipt of payment.

Jasper Dalgliesh Photography, http://jasperdalgliesh.com/

Saturday night saw the long awaited and much anticipated performance at Indigo2 to raise funds for Living Paintings. The fabulous Woodford & Wanstead and Chobham Rock Choirs gave their all to sing their way through a hugely entertaining evening getting the audience dancing and singing in the aisles.

Hostess for the evening was 9 year old Paige, one of Living Paintings’ beneficiaries with a little help from Camilla Oldland, Living Paintings’ CEO.

Joining them on stage were Angela Wynter of Eastenders fame and Jim Carter, Mr Carson the butler from Downton Abbey, who went on to most ably compere the event.

In the second half a solo of Dancing in the Streets by the absolutely fabulous Su Pollard raised the roof. This was followed by 14 year old Luca Gatta, who is blind, joining the choir on stage for True Colours. He sung his heart out gaining a massive round of applause and leaving not a dry eye in the house.
Then the prize draw with Julian and Emma Fellowes went off smoothly despite fears that the rickety tombola barrel might fall off its axels with a single turn!

After that, Jim Carter took on the role of auctioneer and brilliantly sold a copy of the Downton Abbey book signed by all the ‘upstairs’ actors for an impressive £750 to a member of the audience.

Too soon it was time for the finale with the audience joining in on an emotional rendition of Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. With thanks to everyone who took part, the performance ended and we hope all our guests got home safely.

More news and photographs to follow…

Our sincerest thanks to the IndigO2 and Jasper Dalgliesh Photography who both waived their photographic fees so that this value could be used to raise additional funds for our charity.

April is a busy time for anniversaries and historical dates in history.  Help make learning fun, find out something new or simply brush up on your general knowledge by borrowing one of the following Touch to See books from our Library*. 

For adults

April is an important month in the history of the playwright – he was born on 26 April 1564 and died on 23 April 1616.   Shakespeares Country will tell you more about Tudor History & Shakespeare himself.

23rd of April is St George’s Day and our Works of Art in Irish Galleries provides a beautiful image of St George battling the infamous dragon.

For Groups

To celebrate the birth & death of Shakespeare why not have a session based on Shakespeare’s Kings & Heroines

For Children

Introduce children to Shakespeare in Tudor Times or to Albert Einstein in Science in Art  – April 1905 is when he revealed his theory of relativity.

Loads of space related stuff has happened in the past in April including the explosion on Apollo 13, the launch of the Pioneer 11 spaceship and obviously the first man went into space on the 12th April 1961.  Find out more by borrowing History of Space.

And finally don’t forget St. George’s day – we have George & the Dragon, but be warned George isn’t quite the fearless knight you might expect!

*these are purely suggestions and you are more than welcome to borrow from any range of the library whether you are a child or an adult

“I remember being in an art gallery abroad and I was standing very close to a painting enjoying the colours and the detail that I could see,” said Paul, “when suddenly a firm grip was placed on my shoulder and I was drawn back from the painting and reprimanded for getting too close. Therefore I always thought that art was a closed world to me. Luckily Living Paintings came along and unlocked this wonderful world for me.”

Paul first heard about Living Paintings from his local rehabilitation centre for sight loss in Birmingham.

“I am delighted to be able to give something back to Living Paintings for the tremendous amount that they have given to me. I have also edited for Living Paintings in the past and actually the pack I have at the moment, the one I am using in my photograph, is one that I edited.”

“I enjoy the descriptions of the art works but also learning new things about them and their creators,” Paul added.

If you would like to donate to Living Paintings by sponsoring Paul and his parachute jump then visit www.justgiving/paulmillross or call the office on 01635 299771

We’re all looking forward to the first weekend in June when we will  celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.   It will be a busy year for the Royal Family.  The Queen, supported by other family members, will visit cities in all parts of the United Kingdom and other members of the Royal Family will make overseas visits representing the Queen in Commonwealth countries and other British territories.

At Living Paintings we have something for everyone for the Jubilee.  For Adults we have The Royal Collection with a forward by HRH Prince of Wales.  There are three royal portraits including a beautiful one of the Queen painted in 1954 by James Gunn.  The other two are of Queen Elizabeth the First and Princess Victoire (though Landseer decided to paint her looking the other way!).  There is also a lovely picture by Van Dyck of Charles I’s five eldest children, plus one very large dog and one very small one!

For children at Key Stages 2 and 3 we have a topical pack on Kings and Queens starting with King Alfred the Great and ending with our Queen.  The topic for our Queen describes the day of her coronation all those years ago, when anyone with a TV invited friends who weren’t so lucky to join them to watch the celebrations.

For younger children we have the story of the Queens Knickers!  What a panic there was when the trunk containing the knickers was sent to the wrong place!  There is also an official Knicker Guide and pictures of the queen’s emergency knickers – one pair has a parachute stitched in and another pair has an inflateable life boat!!  But which knickers should the queen wear to visit a school?  You’ll have to borrow the Living Picture Book to find out!

Did you know ??? -

• The Queen is the second longest serving monarch. (Victoria was queen for 63 years)
• During her reign there have been 12 Prime Ministers (Tony Blair was the first Prime Minister to have been born during The Queen’s reign).
• There have been six Archbishops of Canterbury during The Queen’s reign and six Roman Catholic Popes.
• The Queen is currently patron of over 600 charities and organisations
• In 60 years, The Queen has undertaken 261 official overseas visits, including 96 State Visits, to 116 different countries.  Many of The Queen’s official tours were undertaken on the Royal Yacht Britannia.
• The first football match The Queen attended was the 1953 FA Cup Final.
• Over the course of the reign, almost a one and a half million people have attended garden parties at Buckingham Palace or the Palace of Holyrood House
• The Queen has given out approximately 90,000 Christmas puddings to staff continuing the custom of King George V and King George VI.
• The Queen has sat for 129 portraits during her reign.
• In an average year, The Queen will host more than 50,000 people at banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and Garden Parties at Buckingham Palace.
• The Queen has owned more than 30 corgis during her reign.
• The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh have been married for 64 years.  The Queen’s wedding ring was made from a nugget of Welsh gold.
• Queen Victoria was the last and to date the only British Monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee. The Queen, who will be aged 85 on Accession Day in 2012, will be the oldest monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee.  Queen Victoria was 77 when she celebrated hers in 1897.