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Workshops, watercolours and Wimbledon: Autumn Arts Festival takes over town centre

The Autumn Arts Festival has returned to Wimbledon, as the town centre welcomed the first of three successive weekends of paint, books and origami.

Located on The Piazza, the festival kicked off with the Get Creative initiative, which encouraged people of all ages to get involved in a variety of activities ranging from life drawing to screen printing.

Charlie Kirkham, a watercolour teacher at Merton Adult Education Centre on Whateley Avenue, is one of the artists on show and has much in store for the festival.

She said: “We have collage workshops, origami lessons and card classes. We welcome people of all abilities from adults to very young children.

“I would urge people to try it. Just try it for 10 minutes and have a go. Loads of people stay longer because they discover they like it and often stay for hours.”

Professional artists will run workshops across the festival, and next weekend local people can purchase pieces of work.

The Merton Arts Trail, a separate event which runs this month, is also involved and organisers unveiled their 2015 route last weekend.

The trail will sees 100 local artists open their doors to the public and show off their creations in 60 different locations, including the 900-year-old St Mary’s Church.

Picture courtesy of Marcy Leigh, with thanks

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