INTERVIEW: Morecambe artist speaks on future of Frontierland mural as 100th painting goes up

Monday, 3 October 2022 17:38

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Bob Pickersgill with the 100th painting on the Frontierland fence

The 100th painting on a mural to brighten up the eyesore Frontierland site has gone up and we have been speaking to the man who started it all off.

Morecambe artist Bob Pickersgill created the first painting on the blue hoardings outside the former fairground two years ago to raise awareness of the state of the derelict land.

Since then other artists and photographers have joined in to create a colourful mural full of images of people, landmarks and events.

The 100th painting, celebrating the town's weekly Parkrun fun run on the promenade, has now gone up on the 600ft long fencing.

"This was done by a lady who is a runner with the local running club, and that was put up last week," said Bob.

"Everybody who has done one has been wonderful. I've put virtually all of them up, which has kept me very busy!"

LISTEN to our interview with Bob Pickersgill:

Bob started work on the first painting in January 2020, of the town's most famous daughter, the late TV and film actress and comedienne Dame Thora Hird (see below).

He said the work was as a protest at the state of the hoardings, which had fallen into disrepair in the years since the Wild West theme park closed in 2000.

Artists from the Morecambe-based Good Things Collective, who were planning to create murals around the town, then produced some work to go alongside Bob's painting of Thora.

"Within about two months there were four or five (paintings) here and the rest followed," said Bob.

"I didn't ask any permission from anybody because if you're going to do a protest, you just do it, don't you?"

Last month Frontierland site owners Lancaster City Council, who bought the land in 2021, said they were looking for "expressions of interest" from developers.

Council-appointed contractors are currently working to make the site safe and secure and to re-level the land.

Bob said he wasn't sure what would happen to the mural once the land is back in use.

"When I did Thora Hird, I didn't have any idea at all of what might happen. Maybe people will take their own paintings back, maybe they will end up in a garage somewhere, I don't know.

"I've done four, there are two or three in the pipeline, but it has reached the stage where it is slowing down.

"It's open to everybody. Some of the schools have done some (of the work). It's a local community project."

Bob, who hopes the land will be used for a park, said he felt the future of the Frontierland site was "back at stage one".

"In many ways I'm proud that I started something that lots of people have latched onto," he said.

"But I'm very disappointed because the idea (of the mural) was to raise awareness and get the hoardings down, and have this land opened up as an amenity for locals and tourists alike, and that hasn't happened.

"There is no guarantee of what they are going to do."