Swansea schools' photos in the Grand Theatre

Wow! Penyrheol and Penybryn schools end of project exhibition was a fine thing to see. On two floors of Swansea's Grand Theatre, there were hundreds of photographs to admire. Each student had visited four locations, which landscapes ranged from seasides through rivers to city parks, taking and average of 100 pictures each time. Not only were their ten best shots displayed on their own boards, but there were nine shots of each of the eight beauty spots they had visited. It took quite a time to absorb the quantity. The quality, on the other hand was immediately obvious. With no exceptions, each student had produced stunning images, many of which would not look amiss in the pages of magazines. Many of the visitors left comments like, "lovely photographs", "very impressed" and "what a delightful exhibition". Parents, teachers and visitors alike were captivated by this show.



Above: Pen-y-Bryn with their goody bags - and the Lord Mayor

What was also obvious was the children's pride in their achievements. This was no more apparent than when the Lord Mayor of Swansea, Councillor Richard Lewis, presented every pupil with a gift bag to commemorate their participation in the project. In the bag was a certificate, a framed copy of one of their best images and various 'freebies'. Later, they will receive a dvd containing all the work they have done throughout the project, portraits, group shots at the locations and, perhaps best of all, a picture of them with the Lord Mayor. After the speeches, the presentations and the photo calls, there was another kind of opportunity – a lovely buffet, with sandwiches, pies, pizzas and many other delights. It was also a nice to chat with his worship and to observe the pleasure on the kids' faces at other people's acknowledgements of their achievements.



Above: Peyrheol students together with Swansea's Lord Mayor

All this happened on the first day. The next and last day of the exhibition, we had lots of visitors, including some of the students who weren't able to come on the first day. It was another excellent culmination of two schools' participation in this project, one in which we are proud to be involved.