School kids give underpass a makeover

School kids give underpass a makeover

Local school pupils have teamed up with a professional artist to give unwelcoming underpasses in their village a makeover.

Primary seven pupils from both Houston Primary and St Fillan’s Primary in Houston worked with artist Meredith Crone to design and paint the murals.

The project came about through the school travel planning process, lead by Renfrewshire Council’s Planning and Transport Service, which highlighted that the underpasses were considered undesirable places to walk through. Pupils suggested painting them with bright murals to freshen them up.

Meredith visited the schools on several occasions to deliver workshops and gather ideas from the pupils. He then drew up a plan for how the murals would look using the pupils’ artwork and mapped out the murals so that the pupils could bring them to life.

The children chose to paint a seascape on one wall and an enchanted forest on the other.

Councillor Marie McGurk, convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Environment and Infrastructure Policy Board, said: “The aim of school travel plans is to identify ways to encourage greener and safer ways to travel to and from school. This project is a great example of how pupils contribute to their school’s travel plan by identifying potential issues that might put people off walking to school and suggesting ways to address this. The children were really involved from start to finish and had a great time working together as well as with Meredith. The young people who were so heavily involved in the project hope that the local community will appreciate their efforts to brighten up these underpasses and will enjoy the murals for years to come.”

Courtesy of Renfrewshire Council