South Marston

Oxleaze Woodland Arts Project

Oxleaze Woodland, on the edge of South Marston village, forms part of the Great Western Community Forest. It was purchased and funded through Section 106 agreement funds from the Keypoint Rail Freight Terminal and was planted by people from the village in 2004. Some of the older children in South Marston Primary School remember planting trees with their families then. Now the trees are starting to grow up, paths have been put in and it is time to think about how the woodland will be used long term by people and wildlife.

In Autumn 2006, the Great Western Community Forest team approached South Marston Primary School and invited the school to be involved in the design and creation of a piece of artwork for Oxleaze Wood. This artwork would reflect the rich variety of wildlife which would soon inhabit the woodland and show how the village would benefit from Oxleaze Woodland.

The Community Forest team engaged the experienced environmental artist and sculptor, Andy Frost, to work with children throughout the whole school on this exciting project for the village. Over a period of six weeks the children visited the woodland with the Community Forest team and worked with Andy to produce their own individual wildlife sculptures. The resulting piece of artwork is influenced by ideas from the children and by their mini wildlife sculptures and is known as a ‘Carecrow’ – the guardian of Oxleaze Wood watching over the wildlife of the woodland, rather than scaring it away!

Heather Lilley, Community Education Officer for the Great Western Community Forest team, said “We wanted to raise the profile of Oxleaze Wood within the village of South Marston so that people start to feel it belongs to the village. We felt that involving the local schoolchildren in an innovative and creative project would ensure a safe future for the woodland”. Head teacher of South Marston Primary School, Gill Llewellyn, said “The project was a great opportunity for the children to work alongside a professional artist, developing ideas and helping to produce the sculpture for the woodland. We were also delighted to be awarded the 'Artsmark', a Government Award for Arts, for our school this term”.

In the last week of summer term 2007, a whole school picnic was arranged – teachers, schoolchildren, parents and younger siblings all walked with Community Forest officers from the school to the woodland to see, for the first time, the final ‘Carecrow’ and wildlife benches in situ. After their picnic they walked around the woodland and then all shared a huge cake to celebrate the finished sculpture and the school’s Artsmark award.

Further information

For further information contact Heather Lilley on Tel: 01793 466317 or by email: hlilleyswindon.gov.uk.