Chester Bluecoat lit up by colourful new murals

The Chester Bluecoat Charity, based in central Chester, has brought to life its history and aims in a series of exciting new murals at its historic Bluecoat building on Upper Northgate Street.

In its main meeting room, The Galeka Conference Room, the colourful, life-size murals, designed by Chester-based Absolutely Design, reflect the charity’s mission to tackle the causes of poverty, disadvantage and inequality across Chester by illustrating how it supports children, food kitchens, specialist cycles and playgrounds, amongst many other things. In addition, on its four-storey stairwell, the timeline of the Grade II-listed Bluecoat is depicted with key moments from1717 when the building started to take the shape it has today.

The decorated Galeka Conference Room is available to rent at highly competitive prices by visiting: 

www.thechesterbluecoatcharity.co.uk 

All monies raised from the rental of the meeting room goes directly to the charity’s work.

Mike Jenkins, Chief Executive of The Chester Bluecoat Charity, said:

“It is astonishing to think that for more than 800 years The Chester Bluecoat Charity, in its various guises, has been serving the same purpose – to help the people of Chester and the surrounding area. It is the City’s oldest charity and these fantastic new murals are a way of acknowledging both our past and present.

“Many people are aware of The Charity’s historic on-site almshouses and that we rent  affordable offices to not-for-profit organisations and meeting rooms to all in our historic building. But as our new Conference Room mural highlights, The Charity is actively involved in supporting the most disadvantaged in society by giving grants to many other community and educational organisations, such as West Cheshire Foodbank, Fallen Angels and Theatre Porto.

Graham Boyd, CEO and Founder of Chester-based Absolutely Design, said:

“As a Cestrian, this was a wonderful project to work on, not least because I pass The Bluecoat several times a week and have always wondered about its history.  In addition to the Conference Room mural, my stairwell murals present four highlights of The Bluecoat’s history, starting with the establishment of the School in 1717 when the original hospital was demolished and 1854, when the school was expanded and its iconic clock and Bluecoat Boy added. The other two murals show the bell recovered from the WWI hospital ship, The SS Galeka which came to join the 1717 bell that still tolls every hour, on the hour. Lastly, on the top stairwell the story of The Chester Bluecoat Charity comes right up-to-date when in 2015, the building re-opened, after a £1.3m revamp as a centre for charities and voluntary organisations.”

Absolutely Design (Absolutely.design) is known in Chester for its 17 colourful, fun and beautifully designed, life-size murals in the car parks at Chester’s Northgate Market & Foodhall complex.

Mike Jenkins, Chief Executive of The Chester Bluecoat Charity, said:

“For those who want to find out more about The Chester Bluecoat Charity and how to apply for funding and support, go to: 

www.thchesterbluecoatcharity.co.uk 

Hiring the newly decorated Galeka Conference Room plus The Stratford Room is open to anyone.  These rooms can accommodate from 12-70 people and prices start at £35. It is good to know that if you hire these rooms, all profits raised go directly to local charities.”

Absolutely Design offers unique, imaginative and exciting bespoke wall murals. Started by Graham Boyd in 2018 in Chester, his company’s vision is to create extraordinary, original artwork to enhance work and public spaces for everyone.

Every one of Absolutely Design’s projects is personalised so that it exactly reflects the values and passion of each commission, whether it is a charity, museum or local council. Large or small, to each job, Graham Boyd and his team bring their creativity, experience and passion to create something unique and exactly ‘fit for purpose’.

For any enquries go to: 

hello@absolutelydesign.com

Pictured - Murals of staircase and Galeka Conference Room.