ARTWORK designed by local schoolchildren will adorn a main walkway at the racecourse during Royal Ascot.

In celebration of the Royal meeting next month, Ascot Racecourse invited children from eight local schools to enter a competition to have their artwork displayed in the Ascot Heath Tunnel, providing a colourful walkway for both Royal Ascot visitors in the Village Enclosure and local residents accessing the Heath in the centre of the racecourse.

Pupils aged four to 11-years-old were invited to submit their artwork, which had to incorporate the theme 'A Celebration of Royal Ascot’ to be in with a chance of winning cash prizes of £1,000 for their school, as well as Amazon vouchers to spend for themselves.

The winning artists were Charan Bains from Holy Trinity CE Primary School (4-6yrs); Zara Hames from St Francis Catholic Primary School (7-9yrs); and Albany Barralet from LVS Junior School (10-11yrs).

Their artwork, together with the runners-up and highly commended pieces, will be turned into large-format displays and will decorate the Heath Tunnel ahead of the Royal meeting next month and remain on display for the rest of the year.

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Communications at Ascot Racecourse, said: “We launched this community initiative as an incentive for schools to win some much needed funds, to engage local children with the racecourse and horse racing itself, and to provide our community and Royal Ascot guests with a colourful and artistic walkway through which to access the Heath. We received almost 250 entries from pupils across the local area and it was fantastic to see their creations and get their perspective on the occasion that is Royal Ascot.”

Caroline Johnson, Head of School at St Francis, said: “We were delighted to be involved with the Ascot Racecourse Art Competition and thought it was a brilliant initiative for our school to take part in. The racecourse is such a feature in Ascot, it is wonderful that that they are working hard to develop a close working relationship with the local schools and community. Receiving such a generous prize of £1,000 for the school too makes such a difference to us – we will certainly put this to good use.

"Our children and their families enjoyed a very special and memorable day. We are really looking forward to seeing the artwork on display in the tunnel during Royal Ascot Week and I am sure there will be lots of visitors from our school who will come along to view it.”