Cheering up Ireland with stencils.

There is a somewhat cheeky notion in the United Kingdom that our queen believes that every country smells of fresh paint.  Probably the same could be said for the president of the United States.  Both have visited Ireland recently and Dulux donated gallons of paint to help the country look it's Sunday best. 

On a way smaller scale and perhaps with more noble intentions a small group of students in Ireland are trying to clean up their village. I do not think any internationally known names are visiting.  They are doing this in to cheer up their community.

 

Student Ferdia Hayes wrote 'We are a group of students from Dundalk, Louth, Ireland and we are participating in a project with O2 Think Big, an initiative designed to get young people involved in raising awareness about mental health and also improving mental health in our community. It is associated with the registered Irish charity, Headstrong. www.headstrong.ie.

 

Dundalk has been effected by the recession big time, because of it's proximity to the Northern Irish border and with the current state of the country. This has had a dramatic affect on peoples moods and humour. So basically we want to change that by lightening the mood a bit by painting the derelict shops and businesses with colourful designs and stenciling flower baskets on to the walls. We loved your stencils on your website and thought that it would fit in greatly with our project.

I had some floral stencils lined up as giveaways to you dear readers but I side tracked them to Ireland to help with Ferdia's cause.  I shall have more for you in the future.  Hopefully, I shall have more pictures from Ferdia and his friends too so that we can follow their progress.

I have just been reading an amusing piece by of The Irish Times called Moneygall cleans up. It described the villagers of Moneygall preparing for the visit of President Barack Obama.....  There is a movie script just waiting to be written ( just wish I had the talent and time to write it).   By the time that I post this both the USA President and the Queen of England will have been and gone and I hope the experience was enjoyed by all.

I hope that the newly stencilled Dundalk will be enjoyed for a long while too.

Helen.

Comments

[Theresa Cheek]

Good to see your stencils being used this way. I think the whole world is in the doldrums with the economy and natural disasters. Stencils and art in general, can help us all smile a little each day! :)