Chester Designed by Nature: Spring Blooms - Hanami Cherry Blossom Bus

Park and Ride into the city centre and Zoo on this amazing Hanami Cherry Blossom Bus, where blossoms co-created with Cheshire communities are made from recycled materials, T-shirt yarn or British-supplied super chunky yarn. The leaves and bark are felted using wool including local alpaca. Celebrating the arrival of spring, with the hope that the year ahead will allow gathering and connection, each cherry blossom has been dedicated as a tribute to unpaid carers in Cheshire.

One Life Artists merge curatorial research, contemporary and community art for social action in Cheshire with creative empowerment and wellbeing at the heart of the practice.

Emma is currently a Trainee Art Therapist with The University of Derby and an Arts Engagement Officer creating breaks for unpaid carers at Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust. She is a Studio Artist at the newly re-opened CrossHatch Studios in Winsford.

The Hanami Cherry Blossom installation on a Park and Ride Bus is co-devised with Andrea Janowski and the Carers Art Group and is co-created with communities across Cheshire.

Funding to provide the services in this project is provided by the Welcome Back Fund (WBF). WBF is managed by Her Majesty’s Government and is supported by the European Regional Development Fund. 

The project is receiving more than £300,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.