Stoke Bruerne brightened-up

THREE days and lots of paint has resulted in a rather nondescript wall at Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum getting a new lease of life.

It took 13 art students from Lodge Park School, Corby, to put their creative talents to good use, transforming a wall in the education room at the museum into a reflection of the canal's history.

More appealing

David Henderson, Museum Manager, explained:

"We want to change the education room to make it more appealing to young people, to be an inspiring and exciting place to be. I am absolutely delighted with the end result. The students worked really hard to give us a mural which is not only bright and attractive but tells the history of our waterways."

How waterways have changed

Abbie Owen, Head of Art at Lodge Park told that they wanted the design to show how the waterways have changed over the last 100 years. The students started with an archive image from 1911 and reversed it to show 2011, updating the image to show how times have changed.

The mural took three days to paint, and depicts a waterway scene with boats on the canal and people on the towpath. In the 1911 painting, the children on the towpath are in period dress and the boats are working narrowboats. While in the 2011 painting, the boats are leisure crafts and children are running and playing on the towpath.

The Canal Museum is housed in a restored cornmill in the canalside village of Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union Canal, and  is open daily from April to October, 10am to 5pm.