Young artists celebrate coronation bench's return home

The group of nine children from Year 5 in Fulwell Junior School worked with North East wildlife artist Jina Gelder to design a colourful bench as part of a Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) competition, which challenged schoolchildren to create a special bench for The King's coronation.

Fulwell Junior School's bench was selected as one of just 15 winners from more than 1,500 entries and was displayed in the Tower of London during the coronation celebrations.

The design was inspired by the local area, incorporating a lighthouse, seagulls, and the windmill which appears on the school's logo.

It was designed with four core values in mind; Aspiration, Resilience, Unity and Renewal, as the children wanted to capture both values for the future and their own school values.

Now the bench has been brought back home to Sunderland and is being displayed at City Hall.

Today (Friday 1 December) the pupils got to visit their bench with their families, while Fulwell Junior School's choir performed folk songs inspired by the messages on the bench, and The Mayor of Sunderland, Councillor Dorothy Trueman, officially unveiled it to the public.

Councillor Trueman said: "It is such a special achievement for these young artists to be chosen to represent their school, Sunderland, and the North-East in a national competition during a historically important event, so I'd like to congratulate everyone who was involved in the creation of this bench.

"It's wonderful to see the bench here in City Hall where it can be admired and enjoyed by the many people who pass through the foyer every day."

Assistant Headteacher and Arts Lead at Fulwell Junior School, Katrina Humphries, said: "We teach our pupils at Fulwell to be proud of their city, its architecture, its heritage, and its potential.

"This project has given the pupils a real opportunity to recognise and celebrate what values they think best reflect our school, city and region whilst feeling a connection with events surrounding the King's Coronation in our capital city earlier this year. We felt so proud to see a little bit of Sunderland being recognised and celebrated in London."

The pupils who designed the bench all have a strong interest in art and design and were excited to work with artist Jina Gelder on the bench.

Lizzie Bowmer, who worked on the bench, is a Fulwell Junior School pupil. She said: "The trip to London was a really good experience. It was great to see the bench in real life - and actually sit on it! I am glad it is now in City Hall because many more people from Sunderland will get to see it and sit on it too."