Parliament in the Making:

The 2015 Flag Project was aimed at inspiring Key Stage 2 pupils (aged 7-11) to explore and celebrate their democratic heritage and local representation in a creative and hands-on way. Caterina commissioned artist Jonathan Parsons to lead the project. He created a toolkit for schools which invited pupils to develop a flag design to represent their local constituency – drawing upon the natural environment of their area, local trades or industry, local myths, legends and history.

Every Member of Parliament was asked to nominate a school in their constituency to design a flag to represent where they live. Over 450 schools came forward and from these 80 flags were selected to represent the historic counties of the UK. These were sewn into ceremonial-sized flags which were flown in Parliament Square during the week that Parliament was recalled following the 2015 election. Not only commemorating in a powerful, visual way the Montfort parliament of 1265 where representatives of towns and shires came together for the first time, but also offering a child’s eye view of the UK.

The flags were exhibited again at Magna Carta Foundation of Liberty, the national Magna Carta commemoration, hosted by Surrey County Council and the National Trust on 15 June. The flags were carried in a procession of local young people and adults from Surrey accompanied by music played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before being displayed in the arena. Highlight of the day for the young flag-bearers was the opportunity to meet HRH The Duke of Cambridge.

All flags submitted as part of the project were represented online through a bespoke gallery-style exhibition with a map which could be filtered either by county or constituency. After the official launch in March 2015, any primary school within the UK was able to design and upload their own flags to add to the collection. As of December 2015, the exhibition had 529 contributions and covered 473 constituencies. An estimated 20,000 young people took part in the project. As part of the project’s legacy, all the flags from Parliament Square were gifted back to the school that had designed them with many MPs making the presentation in school assemblies.