An inspirational schoolboy who has raised thousands of pounds for charity is part of an exciting new mural project that will see Renfrewshire’s living legends rendered on the wall of a Renfrew shop as part of a “revolving art gallery”.
The first to feature in the initiative is fundraising hero Connor Beck, who, in recent years, has raised thousands of pounds for the British Heart Foundation by completing an incredible 154km sponsored trek as well as a 35km bike ride in memory of his late uncle, Paisley man John Clark.
In December, Connor was awarded Young Heart Hero accolade at the British Heart Foundation Heart Hero Awards 2022.
John was a well-known SNP activist who attempted a 100km trek between Glasgow and Edinburgh for the charity before he died suddenly in 2019, at the age of 34.
Connor’s incredible feat of fundraising in the memory of his beloved uncle made him the perfect choice for first to appear on the wall.
The Newmains pupil’s face has been skillfully painted by Erskine artist Steve Blackmore aka BMore Sketchy, onto the wall of Kustom Kruisers on Inchinnan Road in Renfrew.
The project evolved from a commission done by Steve on the other side of the building.
Following on from that Steve asked Dave Neil, the owner of Kustom Kruisers if he could do another one on the other empty wall of the building and Dave agreed.
“He gave me permission to paint it anytime I want. The idea is that it’s going to be like a revolving art gallery for the community, where I’ll be painting a piece on it maybe once a month or every other month,” explained Steve.
He continued: “I thought it would be good to do something local for the community to kickstart the project and I was googling local heroes and Connor was one of the first results that came up. I read about his story and what he’d done. I thought it was amazing and I thought he deserved a spot for the first piece on the wall.”
Connor was delighted at the likeness of Steve’s work, with the 11-year-old telling the Express: “Thank you to Steve for choosing me as the first local hero, the mural is fantastic and I’m so proud to be recognised in this way.
“I couldn’t have raised the amount of money without the local community support so I’m delighted this painting is up for everyone to share.”
Also helping out with the mural project is Robertson Decorators Limited, who assisted with the painting of the background, saving Steve tons of time. They will also help with buffing the previous pieces off the wall before the next ones go up.
And Steve says more people are looking to get involved with the community project too.
He said: “There’s obviously Kustom Kruisers, myself, and Robertsons committed but there’s loads of others that have got plans as well I’ve got other artists that want to get involved in collaborative pieces. I’m excited about it, it’s a cool project.”
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