In August CAST invited the people of Helston to become ‘cardboard builders, architects, dreamers and visionaries’. Devised by artist Lucy Grant, the project invited participants to contribute to a vast cardboard model of the town by making versions of the Helston’s iconic buildings as well as imagining its future. The old school hall in the CAST building became a hive of activity as families dropped in to contribute to the making of the town.
After the five days of the project there were lovely models of all the town’s most important buildings (sometimes in several versions) – the Grylls monument and the Guildhall, Helston Museum, the Great Office, the Blue Anchor and the original Passmore Edwards School of Science and Art (now the CAST building), as well as multiple cinemas, sweet shops and flower shops, numerous fine houses (and some imagined additions, such as a pretty hotel, The Bird on the Nest).
We’re very grateful to everyone who helped especially the fabulous Helston Museum for their generous help with research and images and a huge thank you to Lucy Grant, volunteer Jade Thomas, the inspirational and talented Vicky Wiltshire and all the architects and builders young and old.
Here are a few comments from the visitors book:
What a great workshop for Helston. We’ve enjoyed making our models very much and it’s a lovely space for this project.
What a fantastic thing to do both doing and as a town project. Really love it a lot!
Visiting from London and awed by the ambition of the project and the fact that the dream has been made! In such beautiful surroundings! It really makes Helston a place to keep visiting. Thank you.
Thank you so much! Loved every minute. Wonderful to bring the community
together and celebrate Helston!
Fantastic idea! We love the children’s interpretations of different buildings. We will attempt our own house now.
Wonderful idea! Thank you so much! It has prompted us to research the history of Helston and we met some neighbours too – a lovely way to bring the community together.
This is awesome!
For further information about the project see Helston Model Town project on Facebook. We are planning to produce an iBook with images of all the buildings as a record of the project.