Last month St Mary’s Church, Barton showcased local creative talent as part of their Oxfordshire ArtWeeks Community Arts Exhibition.  Bringing together work produced by their regular crafts and gardening groups, alongside exhibits from a number of individuals and organisations, the event was a colourful celebration of community.

The gardening, IT drop-in, and crafts groups at St Mary’s received funding from the Connected Communities Fund to support their activities which aim to provide social spaces for people to meet in order to break social isolation and loneliness.

As well as harvesting the rhubarb, supporting the tomatoes and planting the beans in the community garden space, the gardening group has been busy producing a tablecloth on the theme of friendship featuring the message “Everyone has something to bring to the table”.

The community gardening project has proven popular, with a regular core group taking part as well as flexibility for anyone to drop by for a chat or a cup of tea.

The craft group meets weekly and produced a colourful beach scene and masks for the exhibition.

“It’s been wonderful to do.” “It’s all come together so well.”

Find out more about what’s on at St Mary’s: https://www.stmarysbarton.com/whats-on