Local school children and residents will be demonstrating their artistic skills and picking up spray cans this Saturday (May 26) as they take part in a community street art project on the Rushey Way / Kerris Way subway, in Lower Earley.

The project is being organised by Wokingham Borough Council community warden Mohammed Ahmed in partnership with Carlie Higton of the Youth Offending Service, Thames Valley Police and street artist Tom Keeling.

In response to local vandalism more than 80 residents were consulted about the project which resulted in designs being submitted from local residents and children from Radstock Primary School, which included year 6 children involved in the National Arts Award scheme.

Young people from the Youth Offending Service have also been involved in whitewashing the subway in preparation for the project.

The three themes chosen for the project are ‘the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee’, ‘What Earley means to me’ and ‘The Road to the Olympics’. The project will also include a photorealist image of the Queen and is being produced with anti-graffiti paint to ensure that any future defacement can be easily wiped away. 

Local residents have been invited to take part in project from 11am to 12.30pm and 1.30pm till 3pm, alongside the children from Radstock Primary School under supervision from the school’s art coordinator Alice Lee.

Community warden Mohammed Ahmed said: "The partnership effort and community spirit the project has generated has been amazing and really highlights how the council and residents working together to make Earley and Wokingham a great place to live and work."