Our bright and beautiful caterpillar mural at Welcare’s Redhill centre had been ravaged by the weather over many years and, by Summer 2023, it was sadly falling apart.
Through linking with Jose Mendes, a lecturer at East Surrey College’s Art Department, Welcare was able to supply a brief for a new mural. One group of students was assigned the design project for part of their 2023/24 course.
We were invited to the College to attend the final presentations and had the hard task to choose the winning design. This proved far too difficult! The designs were all stunning but we finally settled on two.
The murals were physically created in July 2024.
- Hope Coulston, with her course friends, Olivia and Darcey, came to Welcare on 2 separate days and painted her underwater scene directly onto the playground wall.
- Travis Haines worked at the College painting his park design onto plywood sheets.
Travis’s park scene arrived as 3 large boards. We were able to call on some of our loyal supporters to varnish the mural and fix it to the wall.
We invited Hope and Travis with friends, family and staff from East Surrey College to Welcare so that we could say a heartfelt thank you for their hard work. We are absolutely thrilled at the results and all the families coming to the centre love them.
We asked families to describe the murals in one word and their enthusiastic responses included:
Friendly, bright, cheerful, together, joyful, welcomed, safe, inclusive, nostalgic, community, cosy, inspired, childlike, vibrant, rainbow, hope, happy, calm, relaxed, engaged, fresh, uplifting, inviting.
These words will be sent to Jose who intends to give them as a poster project to an art student interested in graphic design.
