Competition winner's design for T-shirt fundraising to help Swindon charity Phoenix Enterprises

Phoenix Enterprises launched a competition to create their first pieces of merchandise and have now crowned the two winners.

Connie Colella’s artwork won the under-14s competition and Sarah Frampton’s acrylic painting won the over-14s version.

Sarah, 52, from West Swindon painted a head with the brain represented as a tree with many branches.

She said: “I was ecstatic when I heard I’d won, I could not believe it. I was so pleased. A friend of mine knows the manager of Phoenix and told me about the competition. I entered because mental health is something I’ve been very conscious of, as I have anxiety.

“During lockdown, I started taking up art and while working full time decided to set up my own small business – Saffron Sprite by Sarah – selling whimsical and stylish paintings of animals and ladies.

“I call this painting Nurturing Minds, because it shows the branches within the mind, and shows that our minds at times can be a jungle as we struggle with our thoughts and emotions. But this is not necessarily always a bad thing and we can nurture the cocoons of our thoughts to release the good inside.

Connie, 11, currently lives in Spain with her father Gavin. She said: “I wanted to draw how I think that people with mental health are feeling during Covid – gloomy, miserable and sad because they cant see their friends and family.

“I was really excited, surprised and happy to hear that my drawing was going to be made into a T-shirt. I was really pleased to see it arrive in Spain.

The competition was arranged in partnership with Swindon based business Magic Touch Promotions and the winning designs will be available through their website soon, together with a range of other merchandise.

Co-owner John Jolly presented Sarah with her winning design emblazoned on a new T-shirt. The company has helped Phoenix for a number of years.

He said: “We always like to support charities in the area and this one does great work. Some of their clients have been on work experience with us and we decided to set up a merchandise store online for them.”

Phoenix provides work, and support for more than 90 people with learning disabilities and mental health problems.

Louise Hunt from Phoenix said: “It was a pleasure judging this competition and we really enjoyed seeing all the brilliant entries.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who entered and congratulations to both our winners. We really loved your designs and please look out for our merchandise.”