As one of its objectives, NADFAS aims to inspire young people with an enthusiasm for the Arts, an awareness of our Arts heritage and its conservation. LDFAS has raised money over and above the subscription income to make grants towards a variety of projects.

• Fat Birds

Our project has been based at the Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where we have engaged an artist, Patricia Lee, to work with children suffering with cancer.

They have been making two Fat Birds designing patterns suitable for applying to the fibreglass bodies of the birds by using mosaics. The two birds are called Hope and Joy and will be fixed in one of the hospital gardens for everyone to enjoy. This has been a combined project between LDFAS and the very active Art Group at the hospital.

Liverpool acquired an award from NADFAS House for half the funding and our members raised the remainder. Patricia worked mainly with teenagers who showed much enthusiasm and creativity as it captured their imagination. Patricia said that this is the most rewarding project she has ever done, never having worked with sick children before.

Lady Lever Art Gallery Visit

Recently we hired a coach to take 25 9/10 year olds from Lawrence Road School Wavertree to the Lady Lever Gallery at Port Sunlight. Four committee members and three school staff came with us. We had a great day and the children were delighted with what they did and saw. Most of them had never been before and only four children had been through the Birkenhead Tunnel. On arrival they were given a talk and answered questions on the history of the gallery and how it came about and then they viewed some Chinese porcelain - many illustrated with dragons. Then they each made a paper dragon before lunch. Afterwards they were taken on a guided tour of some of the many varied art collections and filled in information sheets. The children were fascinated by it all and did not want to return home when the time came.