Rubbish bins in a town centre park have been given a stunning makeover thanks to a team of talented artists.
As part of a community planting event that saw new flowers added to the raised beds in St Katherine’s Gardens, artists from Red Rumpus Community Arts hand-painted four bins with floral themes to add a pop of colour to the park.
The planting event was co-ordinated by Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District as part of its ongoing project to keep the beauty spot looking tidy and welcoming to visitors, and giving town centre workers somewhere to enjoy their lunch breaks.
Mark Mullen, chief operating officer of Northampton BID, said: “Since securing funding for the transformation of St Katherine’s Gardens, we have been delighted to work with so many community-minded groups keen to make a positive contribution to our town centre.
“The artists have done a fantastic job, adding to the brilliant job they have done elsewhere in the town with the painted utility boxes. It’s brightening up the town in ways we hadn’t previously considered, and it’s having a huge impact.”
Tamsyn Payne from Red Rumpus Community Arts said the project had been inspired by similar schemes in Kettering.
She added: “I saw what was happening over there and thought it was something worth bringing to Northampton. It helps to brighten the place up and also stops a lot of the tagging we see. There’s a bit of a tagger’s code where you don’t tag over someone else’s work, so we’re trying to turn ugly boxes and bins into mini canvases that we can all be proud of.”
Artists involved in the painting included Little Sausage Factory, Littlest of Them All and Ash Mason, while designs ranged from cowslips to show the official county flower of Northamptonshire, to historical references of St Katherine.
As well as the bins being painted, teams from Northampton Town Council, West Northamptonshire Council, idverde, Veolia, Orange Juice Communications and the Royal British Legion were on hand to help with planting, painting, grass cutting and general maintenance, while Sport4Fitness CIC donated the plants and Mercure Northampton laid on a picnic lunch.
