This month’s blog is written by Claire and Emma in Sussex, England. We hope you enjoy reading about their Sheela adventures.

Our interest in Sheelas started when we attended an online Sheela-na-Gig drawing class with the London Drawing Group. As you can see from our drawings, we were just at the start but very much hooked on Sheela na Gigs.

A few months later we decided to infect people with our obsession by holding a Sheela-na-Gig print workshop in Sussex. It was a lovely day where everyone created their own take on the image of Sheela, including one lady from China who made a Sheela wearing the headdress of her hometown. Here are some lovely photos of the work.

Inspired by Project Sheela, we decided to create some guerrilla Sheelas and place them in our local area. The first one was a Banksy-type Sheela in All Saints Chapel, a Norman church set back by the village of Wiston, in Sussex. This chapel once held a beautiful Sheela that had been there since the 1100s, but in 2004 someone smashed it all up with a chisel. They didn’t find the perpetrator and the fragments were lost, so it was sadly never reconstructed.

We decided that there needed to be some recognition of this Sheela so we spray painted some Sheelas onto card, and snuck out in the dead of night, following a woodland path through wild garlic and gravestones. As we came up through a clearing and into the graveyard, our Sheela pants nearly fell off in surprise as a winged creature flew up in front of us. However we were determined to complete this mission in honour of the lost Sheela. Creeping inside the chapel, we hung our Banksies on the walls, so everyone would know she hadn’t been forgotten.

We were delighted to see there was a ‘shadow Sheela’ where the original used to be. We were in awe to see that a part of her still remained. It goes to show you can never put a good Sheela down.

After our night time manoeuvres, we celebrated our first Sheela adventure with a special homemade Sheela chocolate and a cuppa in the car. We were on a high for days after this adventure and plan to make our mark at other sites across Sussex in the near future.

We have also discovered the joys of Sheela pants. It’s amazing what you can do with a basic pair of M and S undies and a lino block. We wear our pants with pride and anytime we need some extra Sheela protection in our day.

Many thanks to Claire and Emma for sharing their adventures with The Wild Gees