YOUNG carers have left their mark on Warrington’s heritage and culture by helping spray-paint their favourite images of the town’s history onto the side of one of the town’s most iconic buildings.
The youngsters, some a syoung as eight, meet regularly through Wired Young Carers for support and respite from their caring responsibilities and the sessions give them a chance to just “be kids” for a while.
About a dozen of these children, aged 8-15, have been channelling their creative energy into a new externally-funded project called Reflection of Warrington, a huge street art mural, which is now starting to adorn the gable end wall of Pyramid arts centre at the corner of Museum Street and Winmarleigh Street.
Kat Lamey, young carer’s coordinator for Wired Young Carers, said the children were “really excited” about taking part in such a positive project which the whole town and its visitors will be able to enjoy.
She said: “The young carers involved had never taken part in anything like this before so were very excited about the project. They thoroughly enjoyed learning some of the more unusual facts about Warrington’s history.
“This has been a fantastic opportunity for them to be creative, learn new skills, make friends and work with a professional street artist.
“Young carers often take on responsibilities way beyond their years and can miss out on opportunities as a result, so to have their work displayed on such an eye-catching building in their home town will be an incredible achievement for this very special group of young people.
“It’s something they can be proud of.”
The young carers took part in workshops organised by the mural project co-ordinators Spearfish Arts, a company which produces and facilitates projects like this around the region, where they learned about the town’s history and came up with ideas on what they wanted the artwork to feature.
Then renowned illustrator Will Barras, recommended by Spearfish Arts’ organiser Andrew Casserley as “a well-respected and well-known artist”, designed the mural which is now taking shape at Pyramid.
Will added: “This is one of the biggest murals I’ve done and it’s quite a big responsibility so it’s great that it’s been driven by the young people of Warrington.
“Working with the young carers has been brilliant because they’re so enthusiastic; doing stuff like this all the time you can take it for granted but it’s not something they would usually get to do so I hope it’s given them something to be proud of.
“And hopefully the rest of Warrington will like it too!”
The group decided on a diverse mixture of images including iconic structures such as the Golden Gates and the Barley Mow, famous faces like Jonathan Blackburne, the Lord of the Manor of Warrington famous for growing the North West’s first pineapple at Orford Hall, and the Mad Hatter’s tea party scene from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.
Scenes illustrating the town’s industrial heritage will also be featured alongside a depiction of the ill-fated RMS Tayleur which was built in Warrington.
Culture Warrington’s outreach and engagement manager Derek Dick was pleased to see the project coming to fruition.
He said: “Reflection of Warrington has given the children from Wired Young Carers a chance to become directly involved in the heritage of their home town and seeing their contribution to the work on such an iconic Warrington building will no doubt boost their confidence and sense of pride in their own abilities.
“This is one of a series of projects which Culture Warrington has undergone with youth groups and young people to raise their understanding and knowledge of their local history and heritage.
“Another recent project involved working with the girls’ group from Warrington Youth Club who became the latest guest curators of Warrington Museum’s Cabinet of Curiosities.”
A planning application for installing the mural was approved by Warrington Borough Council at the end of September and Historic England had no objections in principle.
A spokesperson for Historic England said: “We welcome Culture Warrington’s plans for a heritage mural on the Grade II listed former county court, which is a key building in Warrington’s Palmyra Square.
“We are excited by the potential for the mural to better engage local people in their heritage and are looking forward to seeing the end result.”
Young carers Becky and Daniel hard at work
Thur mural taking shape
An artists impression of how the work will look
5 Comments
It’s looking fab and it’s great that the youngsters have been helping to paint the design too. I wondered why there was a pineapple on it, and now I know why 😀
That is the end wall of the Art College not the Pyramid – and it looks more like a comic book illustration than a work of Art. No respect for our heritage.
Sha – I think your comments are a little harsh – it is the back wall of the old court building which is now the Pyramid – and it has not been finished yet – that final picture is an illustration – not the finished artwork. Pay it a visit when completed before passing judgement.
Thanks Gary, for pointing out that it wasn’t the Art College wall, in my initial shock and horror I must have got confused. But though – huge sigh of relief – the Art College hasn’t been defaced I still don’t think it appropriate on the old court building, which is a fine heritage building.
If they wanted a mural on the Pyramid why couldn’t they have put one on the walls of the modern building – even the above ‘illustration’ would have been an improvement to those bland walls.
As for my comments being a little harsh, (probably more than they would have been if this mural had not been painted on a building that should merit protection) I just don’t like the mural. I don’t like the composition – I think it looks like images have been downloaded from a digital source and just chocked together. I don’t like the colours and I wouldn’t say I was bowled over with the subject matter. And before you say I just don’t like ‘art’ let me assure you I do – very much- and I can easily recognise it when I see it!
I’m also not against murals, I quite like them in fact. There’s been some in Warrington done by local schools that have been really good. I think if the kids painting this had had more to do with the design it might have been better. Just my opinion – maybe a different opinion to yours, but still an opinion.
Surely we should be preserving what little tangible heritage successive administrations have left us with untouched, but sensibly maintained, and instead adorning the vast, bland, featureless facades of the Lego-architecture with the murals to remind us of the town’s history? The older buildings remind us of our heritage, newer ones do not.