In anticipation of the start of the 2012 London Olympiad precisely 12 month to the day, the City of Stoke on Trent and Hanley Museum invited Speight of the Art to participate in a free celebration weekend of artistic inspiration for children! The Hanley Museum being the original home of the 'hoard' of 8th Century gold artefacts discovered in a Staffordshire field.

Speight of the Art leapt to the challenge and with the fabulous support of Chris Ryder (caricature), Rob Pointon (leading local landscape artist), Sohan Kailey (Bhangra Dance) and Tilley Bancroft (Giant Puppet making) both the children and their parents enjoyed an unforgettable day attended by the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Stoke and BBC Radio Stoke.

Such was the impact of the day upon one young family that we receive a most touching and heart rending email from the father - an extract from which is as follows: Our daughter has PDA... which is Aspergers, OCD and Attention Deficit disorder rolled into one... to get her out of the house I took her up to the Museum as my wife told me there was some art thing on up there. I said I would take her for an hour as M will rarely do much other before becoming controlling and sometimes unmanageable. Little was I to know that some 5 hours later we would still be there and M would be completely calm, smiling and like a different person.... that afternoon was possible the most peaceful and contented I have seen M for a number of years and to me it was worth a million pounds just to see my lovely but lost daughter being, well, normal for a few hours. Thanks to you all'

How proud we all were of our efforts, so admirably recorded as ever by the Foundation's great friend and photographer Dave Chesters