Painting the town green
Ordinarily, if you told me that you’d seen a T-Rex and a unicorn in the Ouseburn Valley I’d ask you what you’d been taking, but if it was between the 5th and the 16th of July you may well be telling the truth. Over the last few months Roots and Wings has been working with Sustrans on DIY Streets, a project which aims “to make streets safer, more attractive and easier to use for everyone.” In May we ran the first street trial in Jesmond, working with children from a local primary school to generate ideas and create street decorations. The work on Lime Street, in which the road was painted a particularly fetching shade of green and stencilled with farmyard animals (thanks to Theresa Easton), a T-rex and some other more mythical beasts, represented the Ouseburn street trial, using temporary paint to redesign certain streets and cycle paths in areas highlighted by the community as being the most problematic. Mercifully the sun was shining on the day as we got the rollers and spray-paint out, and under the expert supervision of Sustrans everything went off without a hitch, with DIY Streets team members on hand to explain what was happening to any bemused onlookers. Look out for the DIY Streets team in Heaton over the coming months as they plan the next stage of the project. We’ll certainly keep you posted…