There’s a tremendous art to staging such a successful event for Leighton Buzzard

Leighton Buzzard Art Society staged one of the largest art exhibitions ever held in the town recently, with over 500 pieces of art and visitor numbers to match.

The event kicked off on the Thursday with a private view for dignitaries, family and friends of the artists. With over 150 people looking at the art displayed in the beautiful surroundings of All Saints Church, the mayor Cllr Farzana Kharawala opened the show by bravely painting the word ‘open’ in front of a large crowd!

The standard of art was very high with most of it available to buy. There was a rush to buy some very high quality pieces at great prices, the talent on show from local artists was a treat. Many people decided to join the Society – so there is potential for even more great art to come!

The following two days were busy with constant visitors to the exhibition, admiring and purchasing the artwork as well as meeting the artists. The church cafe remained busy throughout, serving tea and coffee, light lunches and wonderful home made cakes.

Many children enjoyed the opportunity to do a bit of painting in a specially prepared area of the church. The raffle was very popular with five large Christmas hampers as the prizes - the winners were very excited when they were called with the news that they had won. Many of those who had been involved in painting some of the panels about Leighton Buzzard on the High Street a couple of weeks ago, came along to have a look at the finished works, which were great and have been made into a Leighton Buzzard Greetings card. There was also lots of work based around the church, including the ancient graffiti found in there.

A Society spokesman said: “Overall it was a tremendously successful event. Leighton Buzzard Art Society would like to say a huge thank you to All Saints Church, the staff of the cafe, all the visitors who supported us and made it such a great event, plus of course our own members whose hard work, talent and sense of fun made it such a memorable few days.

“Our big exhibition is an annual event, so put next year’s into your diary - always the last weekend of half term 27th - 29th October 2022.”