Harborough youngsters put together spectacular range of artwork charting the Queen’s 70 years on the throne

A spectacular range of artwork charting the Queen’s 70 years on the throne has been created by schoolchildren and teenagers throughout Harborough.

From focaccia bread to iconic pop stars, the stunning array of innovative creativity celebrating the sovereign’s Platinum Jubilee is now to go on display across the district.

The Jubilee Art Project was launched by Harborough District Council, inviting secondary schools and youth groups to create a lasting local legacy of the occasion.

Each group was given a decade of the Queen’s 70 years, stretching all the way back to 1952, on which to focus.

And the young artists have conjured some “incredibly creative and diverse interpretations of the brief, each one celebrating a significant era since The Queen’s Accession on 6 February 1952, herself a young person at the time, aged just 25” said the council.

Artwork has been produced by pupils at Robert Smyth Academy, Welland Park Academy, Brooke House College, Leicester Grammar School, Kibworth Mead Academy, Lady Byron School in Fleckney, Lutterworth College, and HCYC Travelling Forward Project (Harborough District Children and Young People's Charity).

Local record label Somewhere Records has also produced art and created a piece of music encapsulating sounds from the 1960s era.

That will be available to hear online via a QR code on the relevant banner.

The extra-special collection, reproduced on pull-up banners, will be displayed around Harborough over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend from Thursday June 2 to Sunday June 5.

And it will go out on an ambitious Legacy Tour across schools, community spaces and local events the length and breadth of the district over the next 12 months.

Cllr Neil Bannister, the council’s chairman, said the youngsters used the chance to get creative and discover more about an important part of our history.

He added: “It is fantastic that young people have created these eye-catching pieces of art, and that they feel connected with this significant time in our history, and to the past decades of the Queen’s reign.”

Cllr Simon Whelband, Harborough council’s Cabinet lead for young people, said: “This is such an exciting and unique Jubilee project and the work produced is brilliant and very inventive.

“The response from the young participants, and the work produced, is inspiring and will create a legacy of this momentous occasion as the art travels around the district and to local schools.”

People can see the catalogue of artwork produced by local students and young people at three locations in Harborough concurrently:

- Harborough Market Hall, Market Harborough – Thursday June 2 – Saturday June 4, then from Tuesday June 7 for a few weeks

- Lutterworth Pavilion – Thursday June 2 – Sunday June 5

- St Mary’s Church, Broughton Astley – Thursday June 2 – Sunday June 5.

Use the hashtag #JubileeHarborough if sharing your Jubilee memories and experiences on social media.