Broome Street in Sandys has a new look thanks to the efforts of two Sandys Middle School teachers and an enterprising group of students.

Art teachers Barbara Dillas and Jennifer Brooks decided to turn a grafitti-strewn wall that runs behind Somerset Cricket Club and into something that was a little more pleasing to the eye.

The pair started with a poster campaign, which involved students from both the Primary and Middle Schools.

?My plan to do a mural on Broome Street was an idea that I had for a long time,? Ms Dillas said.

?I saw the wall as a giant canvas, but it had graffiti on it and it was an eyesore. Another aim was that I had a vision of a street festival in the area.?

Serendipitously, when Ms Brooks came to teach at Sandys last September, she approached Ms Dillas with a similar idea for the area.

?I sent a letter to the president of the Somerset Cricket Club who was delighted and he gave us the go ahead,? Ms Dillas added.

?So we began to work together and so far, this mural is already enhancing the area.?

Ideas for the mural were chosen from a poster campaign entitled ?Summer Celebration?.

?I sent out a poster contest to all schools,? she added.

?Ideas were chosen and recomposed by Ms Brooks and myself.

?We had first, second and third place winners and the ideas were judged on theme, composition, design, content and colour.?

The work was being carried out by not only the students from Sandys Middle School, but from other schools around the Island and the mural project will continue in the fall.

?I had taken my M2 class during their art time to work on the project,? said Ms Dillas.

?Also we had a community service day and I took my advisory class out as well. My plan is to complete the wall panel, by panel.

?Some of the children who were selected to paint, were in Ms Brooks advisory class and they were scheduled for art class in the morning with me.

?She was able to assist me in managing the class, as it takes a team to do this kind of project. My aim is not to continue working with the children this summer on the mural, but to continue in the fall when it is cooler. This will also help the students to develop their painting skills.?

Ms Dillas would also like to invite local artists to assist in the project.

?I would like to have artists in the community to assist us, as well as art teachers in the school system because, as art teachers, they don?t have a lot of time to do work.

To help protect the longevity of the mural, Ms Dillas decided to involve some of the local graffiti artists as well.

?I have invited them to show positive images, as some of them have brothers and sisters who were part of the project,? Ms Dillas said.

?So I am hoping this will help to protect it.?