Words such as ‘beautiful’, ‘lovely’, ‘a good work of art for Thornton Heath’, have all been used to describe the new mosaic mural on Brook Road.

Brook Road, was nominated as one of 10 streets in Thornton Heath, requiring improvements as part of year one of the Street Action Project because of the level of antisocial behaviour, noise disturbance and litter endemic to parts of the street.

 Various attempts had previously been made to improve its appearance with planting. The mosaic is a bright, positive additional improvement to the street, writes Cynthia Maxwell.   

Funded by the People’s Health Trust the project is run by a team of volunteer residents, from Thornton Heath, and is an off-shoot of THCAT (Thornton Heath Community Action Team). 

The funding enabled the appointment of artist Grace Holliday, who developed the final image from ideas generated following consultation with Brook Road residents. 

These residents over-arching requirement was to create a work of art with  images representative of Brook Road  and  the surrounding neighbourhood; including ensuring images of the diverse community of residents who support and care for and about each other – hence the heart shapes. 

The completed mosaic was achieved over three days by residents who contributed old crockery, unused tiles, and a broken glass door used in the design.

Ashok Shah, of the Tropical Fare Off Licence and  Grocer, granted permission for use of his garden wall where the mosaic art is located. 

ASKI opposite on Brigstock Road also helped by  allowing residents and volunteers from the surrounding streets to use their space 

B&Q Purley Way and Tops Tiles contributed tiles and Fireaway Pizza on Bristock Road kept volunteers fed  providing free pizzas 

A special thank you to Peter Wellington the builder whose skills, enthusiasm and perseverance were crucial in seeing the mosaic completed, Lynn Chambers who recently moved to  Brook Road and who showed such commitment to this project, Kevin and Anthony for their input, and finally, thank you to all Brook Road residents. 

Be proud of what we have created- with and for the community.

Quadrant Road is another one of the streets involved in THCAT’s Street Action project, writes Margaret Scanlan. Unfortunately, like many streets in Thornton Heath a low wall on the corner of the road became a hot spot for flytipping.

Residents decided to put a mural on the ten metre long by 50 cm high wall  in the hope of deterring people from dumping rubbish and making it an eyesore.

Local resident Simon Carter designed the mural, and local artist Vân Dang helped bring it to life.

The mural features the nearby Norbury Brook river meandering the length of the wall, and around it words which residents feel describes their road:  Tolerance, Proud, Community, Neighbourhood, Diversity, Home, Multicultural and Accepting.

Having cleaned and primed the wall mid week, Vân sketched out the design and from 8am on a hot Saturday in August, residents joined her  painting the mural. We met lots of new neighbours.  Dog walkers stopped for a chat.  Several cars stopped, enquired, admired and encouraged.

We had a really successful, fun and enjoyable community morning.  It looks great – and so far – no one’s leaving rubbish. Go and have a look and see what you think?