The idea came from two local professional, artists who invited the charity, which supports children and adults with a learning disability, to add a pop of colour to the streets of town.
Jersey Mencap, Connect magazine‘s chosen charity, runs an art project which sees its clients take part in many public installations throughout the year. Manager Alex Wiles commented: “It fits our objective of being into the community. It is a buzzing, thriving at project and all our sessions are fully subscribed.”
@JerseyMencap were delighted to be invited by two, local, professional artists to put smiles on faces with our flower campaign this morning. Wonderful feedback and great fun – if a few got moved in error, no hard feelings at all. pic.twitter.com/sd71K3DLcE
— Jersey Mencap (@JerseyMencap) January 22, 2018
When contacted by the artists, who wish to remain anonymous, the charity jumped on board immediately. About 10 clients spent several months making hundreds of colourful paper flowers, which included positive messages such as “Good luck”, “You are lovely” or simply smiley faces.
500 of them were left for islanders to find on Monday morning along King Street and the Royal Square.
With no names left on the flowers, many wondered about the identity of the green-fingered artists behind them. It was only late on Monday evening when Jersey Mencap revealed themselves.
What a lovely way to brighten up someone’s day in @StHelierJsy #HVHealthyHabits pic.twitter.com/bIjlkYQZbY
— HV School Wellbeing (@HVwellbeing) January 22, 2018
Ms Wiles says: “The idea of making flowers really appealed to us, it was something fun, new and different. The project is all about variety and opportunity. Some of us snuck out in the darkness to put out the flowers. It was just about putting smiles on faces on a rainy Monday morning.
“Some of our clients went back into town later in the morning to see the effect the flowers had on people. They saw people photographing them, taking them away or simply smiling. A few got binned but we knew it might happen. It was really positive, there was a lot of engagement with the community and it also helped raise awareness of Mencap. Our clients really enjoyed it!”
With many projects to fund, including Art and Conservation projects, Ms Miles described the charity as “small”, but “with a big agenda.”
Mencap hopes that the flowers will help convince islanders to sign up for its biggest fundraiser, ‘The South Coast Charity Challenge’. It brought in £20,000 for the charity in 2017, and will take place on 20 May. More information can be found online.