DIY attitude sees Wellingborough park sign cleaned and decorated with artwork that ‘makes people smile’

One of two signs in Wellingborough’s Croyland Park has been cleaned and decorated with colourful drawings, and the Good Samaritans behind it are appealing for more artwork.

The sign that stands in the park near Croyland Road was in a state of disrepair, with the board empty and the above sign being barely readable thanks to years of decay, but is now a wonderful example of community spirit.

Lesley Pedder saw the poor state of the sign and decided to do something about it, beginning to clean it until she was unable to reach the top of the sign.

She said: "I moved down here from north of Wellingborough a while back and I saw the sign and it was dirty, it was like ‘abandon hope all ye who enter here’.

“Now, it makes people smile. I don’t like dirty things, I don’t like ugly things, and if they don’t have to be dirty and ugly then why not look after them?

"It was neglected and forgotten, and I don’t want neglected and forgotten. I’m not a hero like the Wellingborough Wombles but I go and pick up a bit of rubbish because I don’t want it there, it’s as simple as that.”

Lesley also insists that people should take matters into their own hands sometimes, and that the council shouldn’t be relied on as the only way things can get done.

After she cleaned what she could, the sign was finished by another person, and the idea to decorate it with unique, colourful art followed soon after.

Sammy Jones, six, stepped forward with his artistic skills with four fetching drawings of Croyland Park that Lesley laminated and put on display for all to see.

His mum, Louise, was beaming with pride and said she was ‘over the moon’ with her son’s efforts.

Now, Lesley has been asked by the council to give the sign at the other end of the park the same treatment, and is on the lookout for more people to share their creative designs of Croyland Park to help brighten up the area, adding to Sammy’s already impressive efforts.