Mini graffiti artists get their aprons

Spray painting activity at Highfield Park Road in South Shore.

The children were decorating pallets as part of a community art project at Highfield Road Park in South Shore, after the Friends group there received a £500 grant from Blackpool Coastal Housing’s Tenants Project Fund to run two art events.

Secretary Karen Pennington (inset), said it was great to get the children involved in the event, which was helped by two local graffiti artists, ‘Mr Dee’ and ‘Boz’.

Karen said: “We knew we were going to do an art project but decided to doing something different. Once all the pallets have been painted we will be putting them on display around the park.”

Kian Sudder, 8, Karen Pennington, secretary of Friends of Highfield Park and Archie Dickson, 12.

The park was given 24 pallets by Moulton Printing in Highfield Road.

Karen hopes the new artwork will remain in place following previous trouble.

She added: “We have had vandalism problems in the past but hopefully they are aware that kids have been involved in this project and nothing gets damaged.”

The pallets will be held down by wooden stakes and ties to prevent them being moved.

South Shore youngster Archie Dickson said he enjoyed painting a Harry Potter-themed pallet. The 12-year-old said: “I had trouble sticking the paper down but my mum helped me out.”

Another South Shore boy, Kian Sudder, eight, said: “I really liked getting the mask and apron on so I could spray paint the wood.”

The park’s new multi-use games area (MUGA) was also recently opened after a major overhaul.