Residents from Alston House Care Home have helped shape a colourful mural project celebrating Eastleigh’s past, present and future.
The Leigh Road care home worked with art and design students from Barton Peveril Sixth Form College as part of an Eastleigh Borough Council initiative to brighten key routes through the town.
The project brought different generations together, with students sharing design ideas and creative techniques while residents contributed local knowledge, memories and stories from life in Eastleigh.
Workshops took place at both Alston House and Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, giving residents and students the chance to talk about how Eastleigh has changed over the years and what the town could look like in the future.
Those conversations were then developed into mural designs, refined with residents’ feedback, before being painted and displayed around the town.
Alston House resident Ruth Geary, aged 82, has lived locally for 40 years and said the project had been both nostalgic and inspiring.
Ruth said: “It was wonderful to be able to contribute ideas and share my knowledge of Eastleigh’s history.
“I remember parts of the town that look very different now, and it felt special knowing those memories could be included in something new for everyone to see.”
Fellow resident David Yeandle, aged 61, added: “This has been an amazing experience. We didn’t just talk about the past, we also heard how the students see the future of Eastleigh, what they’d like it to become, and what matters to them.”
The murals form part of the wider Together We Make Eastleigh project, which aims to enhance areas of the town centre through public art, improved lighting and upgraded paving.
Urban Landscape Design Officer Mark Ellison helped organise the initiative and place the murals around Eastleigh. He also joined residents Anne Beadle, aged 90, and Ruth Geary on a tour of the town to see the finished artworks.
Mark said: “This has been a fantastic intergenerational project, bringing communities together to share this town’s great history and historical importance as a railway town.”