Creative mosaic shares Wakefield’s history on Priestley ward

Date:

Staff and service users on the Priestley ward have worked together to create a large mosaic to represent the history of Wakefield.

Taking a year to complete, the theme of the mosaic is inspired by the Wakefield district and is in honour of Joseph Priestley also, whom the ward is named after.

The mosaic is made up of different areas of interest within Wakefield, including historic buildings, nature and the famous people who are from the district.

The spire from Wakefield Cathedral which houses a nesting box for peregrine falcons has been incorporated into the mosaic along with the Stanley Royd clock tower and Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin. The white flower represents Sandal Castle which seals its place in history for the battle of Wakefield. Other elements of the Caphouse Colliery and Theatre Royal can be seen on the mosaic.

Other features on the artwork include a bird – symbolising the various nature reserves in the town, the rugby league emblem and rhubarb as Wakefield is famous for its production. A barge has also been integrated as an ode to the ward’s service users who walk along the canal at Stanley Ferry.

The famous people who were born in Wakefield have also been included such as Jane McDonald the TV personality, retired cricketer, Sir Geoffrey Boycott (OBE) and the Jolly Pinder whose statue is situated at our neighbouring hospital; Pinderfields.

Susan Mitchell, technical instructor at South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The initial idea came from the ward manager, Ade Wilson. The intention was for the ward to do a piece of artwork as a group which would be a permanent feature to display.

“Discussions at the ward community meeting decided on the mosaic. As a group, we were asked to think of things that would be relevant for future service users as well as the current ward occupants, and Wakefield was the common theme.

“A list was collected of famous people, Wakefield landmarks and pictures were sourced so the group could see them. These were then whittled down to the ones we wanted to use, the images were drawn on to the bespoke board with help from Paul Dews, art and music practitioner at the Trust.

“A weekly session was then set up for the group to work on the mosaic, the rest is history, as they say.”

The mosaic is now displayed on the courtyard wall at the ward.

Creative mosaic shares Wakefield’s history on Priestley ward

time to read: 2 min