Remembrance mural painted on graffiti-covered Grimsby house

Nikita Spires Two photos of the same building. On the left it is red brick and scrawled with graffiti in black and white spray paint. On the right it has been painted with a brightly coloured mural. There is scaffolding and a ladder leaning on it. The mural: in the foreground we can see red poppies with fields stretching out behind them as the sun sets. A soldier walks away holding hands with his daughter. He is dressed in a military uniform and his daughter has blonde hair and a light blue dress. Above them there is a large willow tree.

A building blighted by years of vandalism has been transformed with a remembrance-themed mural.

The artwork on Willows Estate in Grimsby was commissioned by councillor Steve Holland after he was told the graffiti scrawled on the bricks couldn’t be cleaned without damaging them.

Due to a high veteran population on the estate, he decided a remembrance-themed mural would be most appropriate.

Artist Nikita Spires said she hoped people felt pride when they saw her work, adding that she had loved giving back to her community.

The idea for the mural came about when Mr Holland learned the only way to get rid of the vandalism would be to cover it up.

“I thought, ‘we’re painting over it, why don’t we create something attractive?'”

Dale Baxter/BBC Nikita stands in front of the mural smiling. She is wearing a black t-shirt and has glasses up on the top of her head.

Ms Spires, 25, involved residents by posting in Facebook groups and asking for pictures of loved ones from the war, which inspired the “heart of the piece”, a soldier and a little girl.

“I had huge response, loads of photos coming in and I merged all the pictures together to create the soldier that you see,” she said.

The artist also included a willow tree in reference to the name of the estate.

Dale Baxter/BBC Steve Holland stands in front of the mural looking down the lens. He has gray hair and is wearing an open-collared cream linen shirt with a black blazer.

Ms Spires said she thought murals were a great way to “brighten up” an area on a budget.

“It’s a lot more affordable [than] doing big construction works,” she said.

Mr Holland added that he hoped the colourful piece would inspire similar projects.

“We spend tens of millions of pounds regenerating the town centre [and] sometimes I think it’s easy to forget these pockets around the borough.”

Dale Baxter/BBC Nikita stands on scaffolding in front of the mural holding a roller with her right hand. She has her arms outstretched and is smiling. She is wearing glasses, fluorescent orange work trousers and a black t-shirt. The mural: in the foreground we can see red poppies with fields stretching out behind them as the sun sets. A soldier walks away holding hands with his daughter. He is dressed in a military uniform and his daughter has blonde hair and a light blue dress. Above them there is a large willow tree.

He said the rest of the Wingate precinct could benefit from similar treatment.

“It’s seen a lot of decay and decline and things like this would soon help to regenerate [it].”

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