Art Club members taking part in Severn Vale Art Trail 2026

By Hon. Secretary Andy Sherrif

This was a very successful year and twelve members took part. The number of visitors was high and there were a number of sales.

My wife Christine Sherriff took part for the first time, joining Pauline Darley in her house. In contrast Pauline has taken part for twenty years.

We realised what a great deal of work it was, for everyone to set up each display. The first job was identifying what art work to put on display. Christine displayed 25 pictures and 3 sculptures. Pauline displayed over 50 pictures inside ones, plus in her workshop outside.

We hung up Christine’s work

At the same time we realised that other artists were busy setting up their display.

The Art Trail started on Thursday 30th April and it was very quiet. I nipped out to visit other Art Club members. I first visited Christ The King where Anne Harrison and Liz Davies were displaying.

The next venue was The Hatch, where Diane Harrison, Ainsley Ross and Elaine Romaeo were displaying. Elaine wasn’t there so I took a picture of her work.

My next venue, St Mary’s Church had only one Thornbury Art Club member exhibiting, Caroline Stealey. After that was Karen Byrne, exhibiting in her own home.

I realised I’d left Christine and Pauline alone and imagined them swamped with visitors. So I rushed back. However I did call on Rosemary Miller, and old friend of ours with her jewellery display. I tried to persuade her to rejoin Thornbury Art Club.

All was quiet at Pauline’s. and the day continued with only 8 visitors.

The Friday started quietly and I decided to nip out to cover the last three Thornbury Art Club members with pictures on display, Keiran McBride and Sarah Fletcher at Tytherington Village Hall first.

My Final visit was to Rockhampton Village Hall. What an out of the way place! Rita Dee had work on display but was out visiting other venues. Her work is shown below.

Once again I rushed back to Christine and Pauline to help them. They were kept busy engaging with their visitors, also offering teas/coffees. The end of day total was 88.

The following 3 days were very busy and we were all chatting to visitors with little time for lunch. At one stage 10 visitors all arrived at once. Each of these days we had over 120 visitors. Exhausting but very satisfying. Many said how they enjoyed our displays. Pauline had some sales but Christine didn’t despite her work being very much admired.

The last visitors left at 4.45pm and Pauline closed the door at 5pm.

At the end of the Art Trail, we took down Christine’s art work and loaded our car. What an amazing experience.

Congratulations to all Art Club Members who exhibited in the Severn Vale Art Trail.

Andy Sherriff

May 2026.