A splash of paint and pride in Newtown

A GROUP of talented young people from Newtownstewart have brought colour to their town through a recent art project.

Newtownstewart Community Forum Youth – who were also dubbed, ‘The Newtown Randoms’ – recently took part in a ‘reimagining project’, whereby they set out to design some creative art on the Old Castle Road, Newtownstewart.

This is the second year running that a group of local young people have been funded to make their mark on the town in a splash of fresh paint.

This year, they were assisted in their creation of the the mural by Peaball, an arts company from Derry, who taught them some amazing new skills both with brush and can.

Speaking with two Newtownstewart Community Forum youth leaders, Amanda McConomy and Jeanette McGonigle, who assisted the youngsters in the project, we heard a bit about the inspiration behind some of the specific artistic choices which the group came to.

Amanda said, “Between the young people and those at Peaball, a design was conceived of which represented things which were important to the group as a whole.

“For example, the peacock represented pride and the importance of pride ion yourself and where you are from, then, connecting to that, the boxing gloves expressed the pride which the group have in Jude Gallagher, our recent Commonwealth gold medallist.

“Jude’s a real ambassador and inspiration for the young people,” said Amanda.

This project was funded by Youth Justice and, as Amanda explained, the wall should be completely filled in when the project runs again this time next year.