Some of the people who worked on the River Place Health Centre mosaic workshops project at a health centre near Essex Road

ONCE drab concrete benches outside a health centre off Essex Road have been revamped with mosaics co-created by more than 100 local people.

Patients at the River Place Health Centre were among those who took part in weekly mosaic workshops on the recommendations of their GPs who hoped that taking part in the community art project would help those living with mental health conditions, or who are vulnerable and isolated.

NHS staff and volunteers also helped to build the new flower mosaics, which were prepared in sections before being put together.

Project directors Dr Sophy Wollaston (left) and Julia Burrett

Project creator Dr Sophy Wollaston said: “We decided to do this project because we’d had so much success with our previous mosaic project, which we did as a staff-focused wellbeing exercise a couple of years ago.

“It’s fantastic because it brings together things I’m passionate about as a GP – medicine, art, social prescribing, community inclusion and mental wellbeing.”

The artwork was funded by Whittington Health Charity, with patients’ families and Essex Road businesses also chipping in.

River Place patient, Ken, said: “When I was first told, I thought, ‘Oh no, that’s not for me, they want someone that’s creative.’

“But within the first hour of doing it, I thought, ‘I’m going to like this.’”

“To do all this, and meet all these people, it was an absolute joy.”