Gloucestershire school contributes to celebrations to mark fall of Berlin Wall

Chosen Hill School in Gloucester was given the opportunity to contribute to the historic celebration marking the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The City of Berlin constructed a giant foam wall of 1000 domino stones measuring some two metres by one metre and Chosen Hill School in Gloucester were the UK contributor and painted one of the stones on the theme of what separates humans from each other or collapsing walls – overcoming barriers.

Art students at the school worked hard to complete the task before the stone was sent back to Berlin to be lined up with the other 999 individually painted dominos.

On the evening of 9th November 2009 the foam wall collapsed with the last stones falling directly in front of the symbolic Brandenburg Gate. The evening’s celebrations began with a concert of Daniel Barenboim and the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra and were accompanied by speeches from prominent personalities. Mikhail Gorbachev, Lech Walesa, Angela Merkel, Hilary Clinton, Gordon Brown and other important international figures were among the guests. The fall of the stones and the surrounding celebrations was broadcast live on national German TV (ZDF) and in extracts by TV-stations worldwide. Hundreds of thousands of people attended this extraordinary event. Young people across the world took part with dominos being painted in France, Belgium, Poland, Bangladesh, Mexico and South Africa (with the help of Nelson Mandela).

Chosen Hill School was selected to take part by Gloucestershire’s International Education Office/Europe Direct Gloucestershire and the European Commission Representation in London in acknowledgement of their excellent international work and wide range of international school partnerships. For more information, please contact Mary Wormington