Photography by Rod Kirkpatrick at RKP Photography from two of the four micro-festival events for the National Forest in Leicestershire: Dollville and Coalville. Participant images are used with their permission, and with the permission of their parents or guardians if they are under eighteen. Commissioned by the National Forest and Coalville C.A.N. supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, with thanks to Enrych, North West Leicestershire District Council and Leicestershire County Council.  Read more about this project on the main page.

Dollville

Upcycling discarded old dolls and fabrics, inspired by Coalville’s history as a centre of doll manufacturing… and the tons of plastic dolls dumped in a landfill somewhere in town by Palitoy when the factory closed down.

Coalville

In this Coalville micro-festival there was Biodiversity Bingo (Coalville Edition) to spot native trees growing in the regenerating National Forest, a slowness nature walk, and cloud recycling mindfulness… the first of many (happy) tears were shed here! The recycled scrap metal Irish Elk sculptures seen here are by artist Sally Matthews, and were there already rather than being a part of the project but we enjoyed being with them very much. In prehistoric times they (elks, not sculptures) lived in the area later occupied by the town of Coalville.