Talented students impress in special art competition

Lady Joicey and Kate Stephenson with an exhibition by local school pupils at the Watchtower Gallery.

Today and tomorrow are the final opportunities to view the showcase, displayed in The Watchtower Gallery, in Berwick.

As part of the bicentenary year celebrating the life and legacy of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford – who lived at Ford for more than 30 years and did much for the community – the Lady Waterford Trust invited local high schools, as well as the first school in Ford, to enter an art competition, themed portraits and landscapes.

To allow students to explore their creativity to the full, the specification was deliberately open, with no limitation to size or media. Portraits could be of any person, past or present, and landscapes of any location, real or imaginary.

The resulting submissions from the Duchess’s Community High School, Alnwick; Eyemouth and Berwickshire high schools; Longridge Towers School, in Berwick; and Hugh Joicey C of E Aided First School, in Ford, were very different and of an excellent standard.

The judges – local artists Andrew Scott Robertson and Sarah Bray, and Kate Stephenson, owner of The Watchtower Gallery – enjoyed looking through all the work and found it quite a task to pick the overall winner – Hannah MacDonald, from Eyemouth school.

The following were also considered worthy of a special mention: Alistair Nuttall, Ford; Mary Waugh, Ford; El-T’Chei Olah, Ford; Hannah Dawson, Duchess’s High; Kayla Craig, Eyemouth; Maddy McLauchlan, Eyemouth; Macy Lunn, Berwickshire; and Nathanael Tyler, Longridge Towers.

Each will receive a prize presented by Lady Joicey, chairman of the Lady Waterford Hall Trustees, and every pupil who entered the competition will receive a certificate for their personal portfolios.

Lady Joicey said: “I would like, on behalf of the Lady Waterford Hall Trustees, to thank everyone who took part in our bicentenary art competition – the artists, the teachers, the judges, those who helped to spread the word about it, the owner of The Watchtower Gallery, Scott Robertson who took a lot of trouble to hang the work, and I am sure several others who I should mention.”

The exhibition is open noon to 4pm on both days.