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Two pupils from the Royal Blind school in Edinburgh got a chance to meet Princess Beatrice today at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh.
Bo Cox, aged 8, and Aiden Murray, aged 13, were invited to meet the Princess in recognition for the sculpture of a vision impaired Oor Wullie they and fellow pupils at the Royal Blind school made as part of the Oor Wullie’s Big Bucket Trail. The trail is organised by the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity.
Bo who lost his sight at 17 months after contracting Ecoli and Aiden who has been blind since birth made the sculpture with fellow pupils from the Royal Blind school.
Bo and Aiden met the Princess and chatted to her before showing her their Oor Wullie sculpture before listening to a story read by children’s Author Ed Vere.
They then joined the Princess for a walkabout and met some super size Oor Wullie sculputures. Princess Beatrice guilded Bo, 8 so that he could feel the textures and shapes of the big sculptures out on the Royal Mile. (PA photographer took pictures of this happening)
They named their sculpture ‘Wullie VIP’ to show that he represents a child with sight loss. He uses a white cane and tactile materials have been used to create textures that can be felt by children who are vision impaired.
Jilly Martin, Art teacher at the Royal Blind School said:
“We were really pleased to be asked to create a sculpture. I had a brainstorming session with the pupils and one of the first things they said was that they wanted him to have a walking cane. They wanted him to have a vision impairment like them.”
“It was probably the most important thing to the pupils that Oor Wullie should have a white cane.”
Aiden said:
“I decided to have a switch on Oor Wullie so that we could hear a message, the message says, ‘Jings, crivens, help ma boab!’