What does Ranscombe Farm Reserve mean to you? was a postcard competition organised by Plantlife, an organisation that protects wild plants and wildlife at Ranscombe Farm Nature Reserve, in partnership with Medway Council, as part of a Heritage Lottery project to continue Plantlife’s on-going education and outreach work engaging and involving local people in it’s wildllfe, landscape and heritage.
Launched in April this year, participants were asked to design a postcard-sized piece of art that illustrated what Ranscombe meant to them. Plantlife were looking for entries that were exciting and original showcasing Ranscombe’s wild flowers, landscape and history. There was an opportunity to win one of 15 prizes to be awarded across four age categories from young children to adults. In addition, the winners’ artwork has been printed as real picture-postcards.
To inspire local people, a series of free creative workshops were organised, run by professional artists at Ranscombe Farm Reserve, and free nature-inspired workshops were also offered to schools across Medway, with a handful of schools taking up the offer. Children created nature-inspired mono-printed flags and designed their own flowers.
The competition closed at the end of July with the final winning entries selected by three judges. The winners attended an awards ceremony on Sunday 1 September, as part of Plantlife’s Woodland Open Day with The Worshipful The Mayor of Medway Councillor Josie Iles as the guest of honour.
To celebrate this competition, an exhibition of the final winning artwork can still be seen in the following libraries across Medway:
· Cuxton Library – now until Tuesday 12th November
· Luton Library – Tuesday 12th November – Saturday 23rd November
· Rochester Library – Monday 25th November – Saturday 14th December
You can also find out much more about the work of Plantlife and Ranscombe Farm Reserve with various information leaflets available as well as the opportunity to take home a postcard pack of the winners’ artwork (while stocks last!).
For further information please contact Plantlife on:
Telephone: 01634 292062
www.plantlife.org.uk/ranscombe
Twitter @Ranscombe_Farm
Jaye Nolan 