Nexus has given young people in Gateshead the chance to showcase their artwork at a Metro station to promote some important fire safety messages.
The murals, on display at Felling Metro station, draw attention to the dangers associated with wheelie bin fires and chip pan fires with some clever and thought provoking designs.
Each mural is displayed on giant 8ft x 12ft display boards opposite the Felling station platforms so passengers can see them clearly as trains pass by.
The murals have been created by youngsters involved in Gateshead Council’s Futures Plus and Respect Birtley youth inclusion programmes.
All the youngsters, who are aged between 10 and 18, were given the opportunity to take part to make them think about the issue of fire safety awareness and to help deter them from anti-social behaviour.
Nexus, who owns, manages and is modernising the Metro system, was keen to work in partnership with the local authority and the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service in order to allow the youths a chance to showcase their work at the Metro station.
There are already five such graffiti display spaces at Chillingham Road Metro station in Newcastle. These have proved hugely popular over the last three years and have helped to somewhat reduce incidents of illegal graffiti at that station.
Graffiti Supervisor for Nexus, Steve Hunt, said: “We think it is important to give local youngsters the opportunity to show off their artwork on the Metro system in this way as it helps to channel them away from crime and anti-social behaviour.
“The displays at Felling station look good and the youngsters involved in the project have really got to grips with the issue and have come up with some eye catching designs. It’s a job well done and hopefully we’ll be seeing more displays like this in the future.”
Councillor Catherine Donovan, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People at Gateshead Council said: “This is an innovative project which will see the carefully thought-out work of Gateshead’s young people displayed with fitting prominence, on a subject of great social importance.
“It's wonderful the public using the Metro service will be able to admire the young people’s art and see how much skill, talent and imagination we have in the borough.”
Firefighter Kevin Burns, Prevention and Education, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service said: “Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service has been working alongside Nexus and The Youth Offending Team using graffiti as a tool to send out key safety messages to children and young people.
“I firmly believe that this type of educational programme has contributed enormously to the reduction in anti-social behaviour fires in the Springwell area of Gateshead. This is just one project within an on-going community engagement programme involving young people from the local community with the aim of reducing anti-social behaviour in the Tyne and Wear area.”
All The displays, which generally take two or three weeks to complete, are left on show for about a month before they are replaced.
Nexus still maintains a zero tolerance attitude towards all illegal graffiti on Metro property and anyone caught will be prosecuted.
Metro’s 17-strong team of graffiti cleaners work round the clock to clean off illegal graffiti, or ‘tags’ as they are often known as. All graffiti of a racist, sexual or homophobic nature is removed within 24 hours of appearing.
Nexus spends £300,000 a year on graffiti cleaning. This includes trains, stations, bridges, signal boxes and other associated track-side areas.