Welsh Heroes help children paint a brighter world

The 100 Welsh Heroes selected by the people of Wales are providing the subject matter for an exciting community painting project taking place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

The Community Painting Workshop is a hugely rewarding and creative experience for children and young people from schools, youth clubs and community centres from across Wales. Groups of up to 30 children or young people per day, can enjoy a unique chance to undertake a wide range of mural painting, with expert tuition, at the Stadium's own workshop.

Participants are currently undertaking the task of putting all 100 Heroes on canvas with some very impressive results. 83 of the 100 Heroes have now been completed, with the final 17 due to be painted by a group of children from Barnardo's Family Centre in Cardiff in early August.

Once completed, the 100 paintings will be displayed on level 5 of the Millennium Stadium, on the long sweeping walls opposite the entrances to the hospitality boxes. Simon Weston, who finished 26th in the Heroes poll, kindly signed his portrait when he attended the Neil Jenkins testimonial game. Simon was so pleased with the painting that he wrote a message to the two girls who painted it.

Prior to the heroes project, the young participants had the chance to work on other assignments including painting the current Welsh rugby and football squads. The paintings and the names of the artists are being displayed throughout the Stadium and on the Millennium Stadium's website - a part of Wales' largest Community Arts display. The stadium has several square miles of walls that will accommodate the artwork, so the painting project will be ongoing for several years, including murals as large as 80 feet!

The Community Painting Project is a non-profit making Community Enterprise that works with local worthy causes to provide colourful murals, canvas artwork and painting workshops for children and young People. The project is providing participants in the stadium project with all of the artwork, equipment, paints and other materials required, as well as painting tuition. Groups also enjoy their lunch out on the terraces of the stadium and go on the full stadium tour, as part of their day.

To find out how you can join in with this exciting project, or to sponsor children to paint artwork you can visit the web site at www.pippinsdesigns.co.uk or call Jon or Sally on 07974 791717