Young artists boost Neston Station

Jul 23 2008 By Carrie Catterall

Neston art

NESTON railway station’s underpass has been given a makeover.

Neston Civic Society, dedicated to protecting and improving the environment of the town, took on the task of making the station look more attractive.

A few months ago members planted flowers to brighten the area and launched a competition that would involve schoolchildren in the project.

Pat Hughes, of Neston Civic Society, said: "The underpass at Neston station looked awful, so someone came up with the idea of asking Neston High School to help us make it more attractive."

A competition was launched at the school six weeks ago for students to design a skyline painting for the underpass.

The winning artist, Ben Twells, 16, painted a modern Liverpool skyline which included the Radio City tower and a Superlambanana.

For three days last week Ben and his friends worked hard painting his design on the station wall.

Ben, who is planning to study architecture at university, said: "It was great to win.

"I worked hard on my painting and am really happy it’s now on a public wall."

Nick Ashton, Neston High School science teacher, said: "Ben is very talented and I think his design looks really good."

While the students painted the concrete wall, passers-by commented on how impressive it looked.

Pat said: "We are hoping people will want to look after it now.

"Getting the children involved is really important to us because it encourages them to respect and appreciate their surroundings.

"We are planning to paint the other side of the arch in September with a different design by another young artist."