Children's Tapestry of Hope

Mpower1 is proud to sponsor the Children’s Tapestry of Hope, an artistic collaboration of British primary school students’ reflections of their heritage. The tapestry, which involves the work of over 370,000 children in 1700 schools throughout the entire British Commonwealth, will be presented to Her Majesty the Queen upon completion, in honor of her 50 years as Head of the Commonwealth. The project’s main objective is to convey “a year in the life of the Commonwealth” through the children’s eyes and artwork.

The Tapestry of Hope follows the highly successful Millennium Tapestry, which has been on display since 2000 in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Schools were invited to complete a meter-sized square of fabric art to illustrate an element of life reflecting their aspirations, opportunities and the issues that affect them locally, nationally and/or globally. Today, the Millennium Tapestry is on display until 2008 at the Earth Centre in South Yorkshire.

Specifically designed so that the individual squares form a single coherent image, the children’s works range from serious to witty, revealing a sense of pride in their schools and communities as well as great confidence in the future. The Tapestry of Hope is an ambitious project, uniting the first generation of primary school children in the 21st Century giving them a voice to express what being part of the Commonwealth means to them. As such, in reflecting such principles as peace, friendship, cooperation and understanding, the Tapestry of Hope will be a dazzling celebration of diversity.  Some schools in the British Isles, the South Atlantic, the Caribbean, Africa, South-east Asia and Australia have already started work, and more schools will be starting during 2003 and 2004.

With the support of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, the Royal Commonwealth Society, the Commonwealth Foundation, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, the governments of many Commonwealth countries and finally, the sponsorship of Mpower1 , portions of the Tapestry will be displayed in regional exhibitions throughout 2003 and 2004. It will be displayed in full for the first time at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March 2006, bringing together the works of children from 43 countries.  Examples can be found at www.goldentapestry.com

Mpower1 is proud to be the principal corporate sponsor of this worthy project. Other sponsors include jBASE International (Mpower1's 100% owned subsidiary), Cadbury Schweppes (schools in Ghana), GlaxoSmithKline (schools across the Commonwealth), B&Q UK (schools in Rajasthan, India, Malaysia), Billingtons (schools in Mauritius), Lipton Tea Supply (schools from their tea supplying countries: India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi), and Chiltern Railways (schools in Oxfordshire).