Pictures for The Beehive, the art exhibition raising funds for our Splash Appeal, is visiting St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth as part of a tour to showcase drawings of the people supported at our day care activities and therapy centre, The Beehive.

The first showing of this exhibition in September 2021 was accompanied by an auction of donated work by acclaimed artists including Antony Gormley, Maggi Hambling, and Paula Rego. The event raised over £100,000 towards The Splash Appeal which aims to raise over £1million to build a much-needed state-of-the-art therapy pool for the adult’s supported by the charity, who currently do not have the access they need to hydrotherapy.

The Beehive provides a base for 50 adults with conditions including Cerebral Palsy, epilepsy, chromosomal disorders, undiagnosed syndromes and profound and multiple learning disabilities, to enjoy life enriching activities and much- needed therapy. It is an amazing facility, truly enriching lives. However, we can’t provide the high level of therapy needed by ever growing numbers of adults with disabilities. We are able to offer hydrotherapy to children at our specialist school, but have no facilities to continue this when they become adults, even though they need and deserve it just as much.

Henrietta Young, artist and curator of the exhibition, commented: “It was a great privilege to get to know and make friends with the people at The Beehive, and the whole business of drawing and being drawn was an extraordinary experience for everyone involved in the project. We hope that people viewing the resulting work will come away with a better understanding of disability.”

The exhibition will be open to the public at St. Peter’s Church in Bournemouth Town Centre from Sunday July 10 to Wednesday July 13 between 10am and 5pm daily.

Helen Mortimer, development manager at Diverse Abilities, added: “Henrietta’s passion to raise the visibility of those with disabilities through art is remarkable. It is very exciting to display these portraits for people to see locally, raising awareness in Dorset and beyond, and hopefully funds towards the desperately needed hydrotherapy pool.”

Visit picturesforthebeehive.org.uk to find out more about the exhibition and future dates of the tour in Salisbury, Suffolk, Kent and London.