Afternoon:
9°c
Schoolchildren weave story of Thames from source to sea
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent10 Nov 2009
The history of the Thames is to be told by 50,000 children in the longest tapestry created.
All the 240 schools from the source in Gloucestershire to the estuary will create a square-metre panel showing the river in their area.
Each panel will be displayed in the schools, including at least 53 in London, before the 240 metres tapestry - more than three times the length of the Bayeux Tapestry - is put together in the capital as part of the Cultural Olympiad for 2012. It was the idea of the Thames Heritage Trust and the Millennium Tapestry Company, which runs school art projects. The Heritage Lottery Fund donated £50,000.
Paul Coleman, the trust's chairman, said: "The tapestries will reflect a portrait of the Thames through the eyes of children."
