Harrogate High School has this morning (10 June 2019) announced ambitious plans for a large art installation, as part of the build-up to Harrogate being the host town for the UCI cycle championships in September 2019.
The installation will be in front of the main school building, on the grass area next to the walk way. It will be an impressive sight for both visitors to the school and, due to the scale, even from the air.
It will be formed using recycled material, around 75 metres long, featuring swathes of UCI rainbow colours leading you to the school flanked with flags made by the students for each of the participating countries.
The project is about celebrating the event itself, helping the students become involved and realising the significance to our town.
But, by the nature of the design, give an added benefit of encouraging recycling as some of the design will be made from material collected that would normally go for recycling.
Headteacher, Charlotte Clarke formally announced the plans to the children at the school assembly. Students were shown a video about the UCI event and Mrs Clarke explained that they would be running a competition for the group that collects the most material for the art work.
Mrs Clarke said:
This is a wonderful opportunity for the school to come together. Our students are keen to get their environmental concerns about recycling across to a worldwide audience as well as sending a positive message of community and welcoming people to Harrogate.The art will be really impressive and help to put the school on the map.
Josh Jones is a pupil at the school and part of the Eco Warrior group. The group has already done a lot of work within the school to promote recycling and they will now take a key role in this project to help collect the materials needed.
The project has two main parts to it, the cycling and the recycling. What I hope is that people will realise the importance of recycling and the impact it has on the environment.
Josh Jones said:
I am not a huge fan of art, but I think this will be great and send out a good message about the school.
The whole school will be involved with the project, with collecting materials, the design and the installation and it will help pupils get involved with the UCI cycle race and develop longer-term interests in cycling.
Catherine Wright is the member of staff leading the project:
Many of our pupils are already keen cyclists, using their bikes to get to school. It’s always good to encourage more and we hope to run a series of cycling safety workshops to run alongside this project.
A project like this will help to bring the whole school together and also put the school in the limelight.
There is already an outline design and now the school is looking for support for the project, with materials, time and finances to enable it.
Although the majority of this site specific installation will be created from recycled donated materials, help is still needed to produce the large rainbow coloured bands that will attract the attention of the worlds media and echo the town’s message of ‘Harrogate Welcomes the World’.
Many of the children will be involved with this project, but what they need is financial support – possibly sponsoring part of the installation or one of the bands of colours.
Mrs Wright said:
The project faces lots of challenges, but that makes it exciting.
It would be great to get support before the end of term, so we can really push the project along.
Even in the early stages of the project, it has received a great response and already has offers of help.
The project is being supported by Welcome to Yorkshire and the UCI Team.
Andy Hindley, CEO of Yorkshire 2019, said:
Creating land art is a great way to celebrate the UCI Road World Championships coming to Harrogate, and if it’s big enough, it’ll stand a great chance of getting picked up by the TV cameras.
The Championships are broadcast to 250 million people around the world so making land art is a great way to put the school – and Harrogate – on the map. We’re delighted preparations are already and we can’t wait to see the finished result!
