Rhodes youngsters say it with spray
Date published: 03 September 2015
Rhodes Youth Club members show off their handiwork with artist Evan Barlow and Amanda Mullen from Rochdale Youth Service
Middleton youngsters have worked with a professional graffiti artist to transform a room in Rhodes Youth Club using inspirational words, phrases and a mural of hip hop legend Tupac Shakur.
The words and phrases were inspired by workshops held with youth workers from Rochdale Youth Service, where the teenagers discussed issues such as mental and physical health, healthy relationships, ‘legal highs’ and substance misuse.
Graffiti artist Evan Barlow, 24, was commissioned to aid the teenagers through art workshops that taught the proper spray-painting technique and helped them work as a team to complete the job.
Amanda Mullen, Youth Worker at Rochdale Youth Service, said: “This was a very positive exercise for our young people. They were really enthusiastic about the project and it helped them to develop some fantastic skills while learning how to promote good mental and physical health through workshops such as the Five Ways to Wellbeing.”
Youth club member Chelsea Knight, 18, said: “The room just had plain walls before, now it’s a great chill-out room. Evan helped with the outlines and we were all equally involved in colourising them.
“I’ve been coming here for five years. I get along with the staff, they teach a lot of positive things and we wanted to carry that on by leaving behind something for the younger members.”
Fellow member Alec Jones, 13, said: “We chose words like ‘respect’ because they are a positive influence and we wanted Tupac’s quote because we thought it was inspiring.
“There was nothing going on in here before, now my younger brother has already been inspired to draw his own Tupac picture.”
Do you have a story for us?
Let us know by emailing news@rochdaleonline.co.uk
All contact will be treated in confidence.
Most Viewed News Stories
- 1First full Stalking Protection Order against a child in UK secured for family in Heywood
- 2Legal challenge against recently approved development masterplan to build 165,000 homes in Greater...
- 3Lottery Winners and Heather Small announced as headliners for Rochdale Feel Good Festival
- 4New energy facility with the ability to power 20,000 homes approved in Bamford
- 5Roadworks, temporary local road closures and restrictions
To contact the Rochdale Online news desk, email news@rochdaleonline.co.uk or visit our news submission page.
To get the latest news on your desktop or mobile, follow Rochdale Online on Twitter and Facebook.