Chippenham Museum Photo Club is an after-school club, based in the museum, running photography projects for young people aged 11–17 to learn new skills and be creative.
In May of this year club members had the opportunity to visit a number of different sporting activities and clubs to capture the energy and enjoyment of playing sports and games for their Time to Play project. The project aimed to capture the importance of play for physical development and emotional wellbeing while helping to raise awareness and funds to support the work of the NSPCC with children and young people such as themselves.
The resulting exhibition of photography opened on June 9th in support of the NSPCC’s Childhood Day the charities national flagship day of fundraising and action.
Councillor Declan Baseley, Chair of the Amenities, Culture and Leisure Committee at Chippenham Town Council, said of the project; “The project was a great achievement for the club and the exhibition held in May at Stanley Park Sports Ground was very well received. The photographs on displayed captured the movement and energy of sporting activities and showed the skills the young people had developed over a short space of time.”
However, there should always be more time to play so Chippenham Museum Photo Club are extending their project and continuing their support of the NSPCC. Over the next eight months the group aim to capture even more sports that young people are involved in. The results of their ‘More Time to Play’ project will once again be brought together in an exhibition celebrating play and sporting activities in time for Childhood Day 2024.
An NSPCC representative said “It is so exciting to be working again with these fabulous young people from Chippenham Photo Club. Their first exhibition was a wonderful way of bringing the community together, through play and sport, promoting mental health and physical well-being which is so important for young people today. There should always be more time to play and that’s what Childhood Day is about – bringing communities together through play and saying that abuse has no place in childhood. We are really excited to continue supporting this project into another year and see it grow within the Chippenham community.
If you are involved with or the leader of a locally based sports club and are interested in helping Chippenham Museum Photo Club with their project, please contact Chippenham Museum.
Chippenham Museum Photo Club is open to new members for more details contact Chippenham Museum.