THE Gardens of Easton Lodge is celebrating after receiving two awards in one day this week On Tuesday, it was announced that it was to receive a prestigious Drawing Inspiration Award in recognition of the success of the event it created for The Big Draw i

THE Gardens of Easton Lodge is celebrating after receiving two awards in one day this week

On Tuesday, it was announced that it was to receive a prestigious Drawing Inspiration Award in recognition of the success of the event it created for The Big Draw in October 2006.

One the same day came news that it was to receive a grant for £9980 from the Lottery's Awards for All programme to fund projects to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade.

Catherine Mummery, co-ordinator for The Gardens of Easton Lodge Preservation

Trust projects, said: "We just can't believe it. It's fantastic. We are absolutely delighted. We are very proud.

"It just proves that projects like these give people the opportunity to get more out of the gardens and make the most of the fantastic space that we have."

The Drawing Inspiration Award was won for the Garden's An Invitation to Discover, which was part of the national The Big Draw event that took place in 1100 venues across the UK.

A spokesman for The Big Draw said: "They won the award for the event they organised, which linked drawing to healthy living and green transport initiatives.

"It resulted in an ambitious schools programme with wide public participation, not only in the gardens, but also in surrounding areas.

"Unexpected challenges, such as plaster carving, and decorating recycled shoes and bicycle wheels, helped everyone discover that drawing, social history, fresh air and environmental awareness can be fun and accessible."

Ms Mummery and artists Kiran Chahal, Liz Ellis and Anne Schwegmann-Fielding will be presented with the award at a ceremony at the British Museum on April 4, 2007.

They will receive £500 and a commemorative certificate drawn by leading illustrator and campaign patron Quentin Blake. This award is generously sponsored by the Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust.

The grant from the Lottery's Awards for All will fund a venture marking the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade will be a Grand Union Orchestra project.

This is being led by Claude Deppa one of this country's leading jazz trumpeters and will involve children from Great Easton Primary, Dunmow St Mary's Primary and the Helena Romanes School Orchestra taking part.

There are also opportunities for local adult amateur musicians and singers to take part.

"The idea is to bring the past and present together; To look at previous world events and how they affected our local area and also to look at what's happening today," said Ms Mummery.

"The projects will be organised by writers and musicians from the multi-cultural Grand Union Orchestra, who will run workshops for local children and the community."