EGYPT, Dublin, and Redcar inspired Saltburn care home residents to paint wooden dolls for an exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of a Teesside railway line.
Elderly residents living at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, on Randolph Street, are among the contributors to an exhibition marking the 200th year since the first journey on the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR).
The S&DR200 Festival, which takes place between March and November 2025, includes an exhibition of over 22,000 hand painted dolls inspired by journeys taken by participating artists.
Twenty of those dolls were sent to Hazelgrove Care Home, where residents painted a knight, snowman, Mickey Mouse, vampire, leprechaun, lion, Santa Claus, and a Venetian gondolier, among others.
Ann Wyner, 83, chose somewhere close to home as her inspiration. She said: “We never had much money and all we could afford was a camping trip to Redcar.
“Unfortunately, it rained and everything got soaked, but when we look back it always makes us laugh. That is why I wanted to do a wooden doll with a mac, hat and scarf, but she has got a smile on her face. This was our first and last camping trip.”
Joyce Baxtrem, 94, used the arts and crafts session to recall a trip to the pyramids. She said: “I loved the holiday I had in Egypt and can remember riding a camel and seeing mummies in the museum.
“As I couldn’t decorate a wooden doll like a camel, I did a mummy. I think mine looks better than the ones I saw.”
A trip to Ireland over 60 years ago gave Joyce Tibbett, 90, the idea for her wooden doll. She said: “I visited Dublin back in 1963 and there was a lot of talk about leprechauns.
“I did buy a lucky leprechaun and some years later won a £1,000 on the bingo. That is why I wanted to make my wooden doll into a leprechaun.”
Among the other residents to take part, Peter Clark, 74, painted a Maori warrior doll after watching a haka in New Zealand during his younger days, a gondola ride in Venice gave Sandra Horne, 83, the idea to produce a gondolier, and Sheila O’Neill, 85, painted Frosty the snowman after a trip on a Christmas themed polar express train with her grandchildren.
Sharon Lewis, activities coordinator at Hazelgrove Court Care Home, said: “Our residents were delighted to take part in S&DR200 Festival’s “Memory of a Journey” project.
“It was wonderful for everyone to reflect on a personal, memorable journey and use that as inspiration to decorate their wooden dolls. We are all looking forward to seeing them when they are on display in Preston Park Museum.”
The S&DR200 Festival takes place over nine months, marking the 26-mile railway journey that took place between Shildon and Stockton via Darlington on 27 September 1825.
As part of the celebrations, a series of free large-scale outdoor spectacles, events, exhibitions and new art commissions in the public spaces, libraries and museums in County Durham and Tees Valley will take place between March and November this year.
For further information on the S&DR200 Festival visit www.sdr200.co.uk.