Mural dedicated to heroic workers

CHELTENHAM has a bold new piece of artwork announcing itself to rail passengers.

It also thanks all those who have either lost or risked their lives to help others during the coronavirus crisis.

Now the man behind the piece, Andy ‘Dice’ Davies, has explained how and why he came to create it on the Gloucester Road bridge.

The full-time artist and boss of the Cheltenham Paint Festival was commissioned to do it by Thinktravel, which liaised with station officials.

He started it just before the lockdown caused by the pandemic and so had to stop working on it for a long time.

Once he was able to get out of his home and resume painting the bridge, he did so.

He said: “I’m pleased with it. They wanted a sense of place and arrival and I think it does that.

“The design is quite classical so it’s fitting with Cheltenham but it has a modern take too. So it’s got a foot in both camps.”

Andy said he had intended to add the names of some of the town’s significant sons.

But that was before the crisis began to bite and he so he changed his mind and opted for the tribute to frontline workers instead.

The strapline underneath the word ‘Cheltenham’ reads: “In memory of those lost. The heroic nurses and doctors and those who risked their lives to keep our country running during the outbreak 2020 - we thank you.”

The piece has impressed many, with some praising it on social media and others stopping as they walk along Gloucester Road to take a picture of it.

Andy added that the bridge artwork was the first of two pieces planned for the station. He said the second would involve work on boards in the car park, near new steps into the site in Queens Road.