Marvellous mural of ’73 hero Monty complete
Sunderland street artist Frank Styles has completed his striking mural in honour of 1973 FA Cup goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery.
The artist has spent the past few weeks painstakingly creating the 10m by 15m artwork, which takes inspiration from real photos of Sunderland AFC’s cup glory.
It’s set to be a new landmark for the city at its location on the side of historic Times Inn pub in Southwick, just beneath the Queen Alexandra Bridge.
And it’s believed it can be seen from the new Transport Corridor being built on the other side of the river.
Frank has created a number of murals in honour of footballing heroes, including Bobby G ur ne yon the side of The Golden Fleece in Silksworth and Raich Carter on the side of the Blue House pub in Hendon.
The mural of Raich has been seen by millions through its use as a backdrop in Netflix series Sunder land‘ Til I Die.
The artist, who was born in the South East but has lived in Sunderland for a number of years, has become well-known for capturing the spirit of the city – from a mining tribute in Silksworth and a shipbuilding artwork at Panns Bank to a piece honouring the late Con nor Brown in the city centre.
His latest creation was paid for by a Crowdfunding campaign started by new Times Inn landlord Ste - ve Lawson, which raised £4,500 in just nine days.
Of that, 10% of the donations were given to the city’s Veterans in Crisis cause.
Jimmy, affectionately known as Monty, was born and raised in Southwick and he’s already been along to view the mural, describing it as “absolutely brilliant.”
At the time, he said :“I think it’s absolutely bril-liant.
"I have many happy memories of South wick, growing up with my mam and dad, and then marrying at St Hilda’s Church.
"I didn’t come to the pub when I was younge.
"But that’s just because I wasn’t a pub man, I was always into sport.
"Otherwise, I imagine I’d be drinking there with my friends."
The hero, who lived in Southwick until the age of 34, took pictures of the mural in progress and said he would be going down a lot when was finished.