Mural is children’s response to those who wrecked Carnlough play park

Carnlough Community Association commissioned an artist to work with young people from both Carnlough Integrated Primary and St John’s Primary School on the mural, which is based on the letters of the alphabet and areas associated with the village.

The piece of art will soon adorn the rear wall of Beachlands play park, which has been subjected to extensive damage as a result of vandalism.

As reported in the Larne Times, the £125,000 children’s play area had to be closed earlier this year after protective safety surfacing was ripped up and two pieces of play equipment were damaged, leaving Larne Council with a repair bill of £3,000. Shockingly, the cost of repairs to the park last year was a whopping £13,000.

But Larne Council hopes that the new mural will give local children “a sense of ownership” over the park and help stem the tide of vandalism.

Larne Borough Council’s director of development, Linda McCullough, told the Times: “This was an ideal opportunity for children in Carnlough to put their stamp on Beachlands in a positive way, and help them understand the need to protect the park in light of the recent acts of vandalism that have taken place there.”

The director added: “Hopefully this mural will discourage any more of these types of incidents from taking place.”