[15
AUG 00] GROUNDWORK COVENTRY NEWS
Canal Colour Comes To Foleshill Fence
A
long stretch of dilapidated fencing alongside Coventry Canal is about
to get an artistic facelift by young neighbours sick of the eyesore.
The
fence runs alongside the Acordis (formerly Courtaulds) factory in
Foleshill, where job losses have meant that any investment or
unnecessary maintenance of boundary fencing has been cut back.
Environmental
charity Groundwork Coventry approached the site manager to ask him to
donate the old metal fence as a blank canvas on which a community
group could paint a mural.
The
mural painters are a group of young people who live in the Clinton
Road area, which is opposite the fence.
They
are currently attending weekly design workshops with community artist
Ivor Arbuckle from Splinter Community Arts Limited in Walsall.
Ivor
is encouraging the youngsters to view their local environment around
the canal as inspiration for their mural designs.
He
will then help them incorporate their designs into a complete mural,
which they will scale up to the full size of 45m by 1.2m.
The
workshops are being held at Foleshill Social Club, after club steward
Des Askham agreed to allow them to meet there.
The
youngsters, who do not have an official youth club, are trying to get
up a petition to persuade local councillors and council officials to
provide them with a venue.
Mr
Askham said:
"It
is difficult to expect the kids to stay off the streets when they
have nothing else to occupy them and keep them out of trouble.
“It
seems that there are no facilities for them in this area so they end
up, as some of them have done, robbing premises like ours.
“If
they had somewhere to go and a youth worker to point them in the
right direction, then maybe they wouldn't get into trouble.
”This
mural painting project has really given them a focus. They all seem
to be enjoying it and it will certainly brighten up the canal round
here."
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