Chiswick residents raise £100k to transform 'ugly' railway bridge with mural documenting area's history

Mural: Abundance London is creating the huge artwork under the railway arches at Turnham Green tube
Chloe Chaplain21 May 2017

A group of Chiswick residents have raised nearly £100,000 to transform an “ugly” railway bridge into a community mural documenting how the area has changed over time.

Local group “Abundance London” decided to re-vamp the road under the Turnham Green railway bridge after becoming sick of sitting at the bus stop and looking at the “eyesore”.

Karen Liebreich, a local author and one of the organisers of the project, said: “The area is truly truly ugly.

“You come out of Turnham Green station and it is the main route that people take to the High Road and it is an eyesore.

Organisers: Sarah Cruz, left, and Karen Liebreich

“We became sick of sitting at the bus stop and having to look at it.”

Ms Liebreich came up with the idea – along with fellow organisers Karen Wyatt and Sarah Cruz – four years ago.

But, after securing permission from Transport for London, a request for funding from Hounslow Council went unanswered for three years - so they accepted defeat.

Mural: An artist's impression of the design

“But then, out of the blue, we got this letter saying that they had set aside £15,000 for the project," Ms Liebreich said,

“And so since then we have been raising the rest of the £95,000. We have £5,000 to go now."

The mural will be made with metallic sheets and will measure 27 metres on each side of the road.

It is made up of 16 images of the same loop of river, dating back from 1593 to present day.

The maps – which include diagrams of the first train line and bomb damage during the Second World War – will illustrate how the area has changed over the centuries.

Ms Liebreich said they group had been “touched” by the way the community had got behind the project.

“I think it is because this is something we are doing ourselves, within the community, as opposed to it being done for us,” she said.

The mural has had support from local organisations and schools, and even includes work from artists such as Sir Peter Blake and William Hogarth.

The group is hoping to install the piece in October.

For more information, visit chiswicktimeline.org

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