Students looking for somewhere to rest their weary limbs during breaks and lunchtime sessions now have the opportunity to not just sit down on any old bench but to place their posteriors on works of art created by students at the Manchester School of Art!

The college has taken delivery of a number of benches designed as part of a competition initiated by the Manchester International Festival in the summer. Students at the School of Art were challenged to work with Stokbord recycled plastic sheet and board, the brief being to deliver informal, colourful and comfortable outdoor seating for the central Festival Square venue. The benches now have a permanent home in the park next to the Whitworth Art Gallery but some of them have kindly been loaned to Loreto by local resident Robert Docherty, and they currently occupy a place outside the Ellis and Kennedy building.

The distinctive seats, shaped like large suitcases or old fashioned travelling trunks, are predominantly black in colour with touches of pink or green. They are durable, weather proof, easy to keep clean and will provide an interesting supplement to the existing seating.