THE Kelty Art Collective has spent £400 of funding on art packs to keep local children entertained during lockdown.

The group that has created amazing pieces of street art in the village over the last few years said they wanted to repay the Kelty community for the kindness shown to them.

Carol Gilmour, of Kelty Street Art Collective, said: “Near the beginning of lockdown, members of the collective realised there would be a need for local families to have extra art resources for their children, and that these would be tricky to get.

“The community of the village have shown us amazing support as we have progressed street art projects over the past couple of years. They have also been very generous financially, by donating to our funds and by putting their loose change in collection tins in local shops.

“We decided we would like to repay the kindness that the community has shown us, by using £400 of our funding to enable us to donate, initially, 48 art packs to Kelty families.”

The packs were distributed by Oor Wee Cafe, at their community meals project which runs every Tuesday lunchtime.

The first packs went “like hotcakes” and Carol added: “We heard about community funding for projects like ours via the Coalfields Regeneration Trust, and applied for £500 to enable us to supply a further 60 art packs.

“We were delighted to be awarded the funding, and are in the process of making up the packs, which will be distributed in the next couple of weeks, by our contacts at Kelty and St Joseph’s primary schools. The packs include paper, mini sketch pads, pencils, coloured pencils, felt-tipped pens or crayons, a paint palette and brush, a rubber, sharpener, glue stick and colouring-in sheets, so there is something for everyone to get creative.

“When we walk around Kelty on our daily exercise, we see amazing rainbow artwork in windows, which really cheer us up.”

Children send in photos of their creations to the ‘Kelty Street Art Collective’ Facebook page.