As part of a three day programme, 16 students from Nottingham College English for Speakers of Other Languages course came to Sleaford to transform the tired and neglected subway. Working with Imageskool, they designed a mural which reflected Sleaford’s architectural skyline and RAF heritage. The art project formed part of our “Try the Train” programme and details of this can be found here. The project was a joint venture between the Poacher Line, East Midlands Railway (EMR), National Citizens Service (NCS) and Notts County Foundation. Funding was kindly provided by EMR

Day one was the clearing and prep day. The wall of the subway was scrubbed of flaky paint and vegetation before being given a coat of paint to erase the existing graffiti. This was completed by the CRP while the students were having a tour of Nottingham station.

Day two, and while the students enjoyed a day out to Skegness, James and Luke from Imageskool sketched out the design ready for the next day.

Day three and the students arrived at Sleaford station in high spirits all ready to get started. After some basic lessons in spray painting the students were let go! They all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, with none of them having experienced the art of graffiti before, and they left knowing when it was acceptable to graffiti and when not to!

Members of the local community are thrilled with the result and all have said it has brightened up a very dull and tired looking wall, with some residents saying they felt safer walking through the subway now!

Take a look at our finished video here

If you would like to discuss about how to get involved with projects at our stations please Get in Touch, we would love to hear from you!