I visited John Mason first to see their art exhibition, but having forgotten to bring a photo id had to be shown through to the O6 Gallery by a member of staff rather than a pupil. The exhibition had been taken down apart from one piece – an old cabinet recovered from a tip – seen here with a sun-projected O6 from the window.

The cabinet was well worth seeing …

It was full of things that would normally be thought of as the lowest of the low: Dyson fluff, tumble drier lint, Dyson powder, floor sweepings – all neatly displayed in thrown away jars and labelled as if they were really important exhibits at the Pitts Rivers in Oxford.

At Larkmead the staff member at the studio remembered my surname from our children. She asked after both of them by name – not bad given they are now 25 and 23.

The exhibition here was of mono-prints by a graduate from Brookes University who had worked with Year 10 – that is  the 4th year in old currency.

Very good to see both schools taking part in the Abingdon Arts Festival.

Larkmead also had an Indian Cultural Arts day with workshops including Rangoli, Henna tattoo, tabla drumming, Bollywood dance, yoga & Indian cooking.

John Mason also had a Family Learning day with Visual art, animation, movie making, cooking, sport and a whole lot more.

Then again Larkmead had Candoco Dance hosted by a contemporary company who integrate disabled and able bodied dancers.

And on another occasion Larkmead hosted the Trestle Theatre Company doing a workshop and subsequent theatrical production using masks and characterisation.