CHILDREN at a Canning Town Primary School were blown away when they saw the results of a textile design project they had worked on with a retired teacher.

Carole Myers, 61, came to Keir Hardie in Edwin Street to unveil the designs she had been spent three months working on with pupils at the school for her masters degree project at London Metropolitan University.

Carole, who was a teacher in Newham for 36 years, said: “They were really blown away to see the final products.”

The former teacher who is now a freelance textile designer spent 11 afternoons developing ideas for motifs based on Olympic themes.

Carole, who took a part-time bachelor’s degree in textile design at UEL before retiring in 2005, said: “We looked at ways of expressing different sports and the ideas of striving to go higher and faster.”

The designer, who lives in Cumberland Road, Plaistow, now aims to sell her textiles commercially and has pledged to donate 25 per cent of the profits to Keir Hardie.

Prospects for the teacher-pupil collaboration look strong as Carole has already made a name for herself by selling her designs as far and wide as Germany, Japan and the US.

Her project with Keir Hardie was such a success that Carole hopes to work with the children again in the future.

The ambitious designer aims to soon begin a PHD in textile design at London Metropolitan University.