House of Commons Sketching Trip

For Exhibition Winners and Committee members 

Monday 22nd August 2011 

A wonderful opportunity courtesy of our Patron, John Bercow MP to spend the day sketching on the Members terrace of the House of Commons whilst parliament was in recess.  We entered via Wesminster Hall, after a little conversation with the police man to persuade him that we didn't have to wait in the queue of tourists - we did have a letter!  It was a very sunny day and learnt very quickly that the terrace is a sun trap and as such those of us caught out without a hat quickly made use of anything to hand to cover our heads to stop getting sunstroke.  The restaurant/cafe was a welcome retreat from the sun, although we of course needed to be accompanied by Mr Bercow's friendly staff.  Mr Bercow came out to see if we were ok and to get a glimpse of the art we had done, I think he was impressed by what he saw in some of the sketchbooks!

At the end of our time on the terrace we were given a tour of the Speaker's House (State Rooms only) and saw the space reserved for the current speakers portrait and coat of arms which will be unveilled in November.  The interiors were quite magnificent and we all enjoyed the experience with the added bonus of being able to sketch and photograph parts of London not normally visable/accessible.

Emily Pool 28th August 2011

Photographs courtesy of Emily Pool

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