TWO talented youngsters will be helping brighten people’s journeys through Caversham, after winning a competition.
As part of last year’s Reading Climate Festival, Sustrans and Reading Borough Council ran a contest with primary schools to design a redecoration of one of six Millennium Mileposts across the town.
There were more than 350 different entries, making it a tough choice for the judging panel.
In the end, they opted for a colourful design from Emma, a Year 4 pupil at Alfred Sutton Primary School.
And they were also impressed with the wording on another entry, created by Estelle. The Year 5 pupil from Wilson Primary School had her entry combined with Emma’s design.
The result is on NCN5 in Balmore Park, Caversham.
To bring the design to life, Sustrans commissioned community artist Commando Jugendstil to do the painting. It’s not the only artwork he has created recently – his dabs are on murals at Holy Brook Nook and Reading Hydro.
The Millennium Mileposts were originally funded by the Royal Bank of Scotland to mark the year 2000. There are 1,000 of them across the UK, marking the National Cycle Network, and there are four designs.
Made of cast iron, they are waymarkers for people following the trail.
Estelle was delighted to see her name alongside Emma’s on the finished work.
“I’m really excited,” she said of the unveiling, held on Friday. “I’d like my friends to see it, and my teacher has given them the address of where it is.”
She also hoped that more mileposts could be installed elsewhere.
“We could maybe have it in more places, that’s what I think,” she added.
And artist Emma was delighted with how Commando Jugendstil had interpreted her colourful design.
“It feels really amazing, because I’ve never had anything made in real life,” she said. “The idea came quite quickly actually, about two minutes.
“I’m really happy with how it’s been painted.”
Mark Lyford from Sustrans said: “It was wonderful to see the National Cycle Network Milepost competition winners’ – Emma’s design and Estelle’s words – artwork looking out across Reading from Balmore Park.
“The aim of the project was to brighten up an almost invisible milepost, with the help of Guglielmo at Commando Jugendstil that has certainly been achieved.”
