A mural celebrating history of local Hove park nears completion

A mural in Wish Park, Hove celebrates local history including a legendary circus elephant and a hot air balloon flight.

Community Mural: Artists near competition on Wish Park mural.

An online fundraiser raised over £2,000 to contribute to the cost of paints, scaffolding and shrubs to be planted around the base area.

David Wicken, Project Manager said, “It’s been a really exciting four months. With lockdown, we decided it would be nice for the community to have something to celebrate.

It’s been a very difficult year so we thought the mural would help to lift spirits”.

The mural celebrates activities that currently take place in the park such as regular cricket and football.

But it also delves deeper into local history.

An artist interpretation of what the mural may look like.

“We thought it was a myth but a circus elephant is buried here”, Gerald Flanagan, Wish Park park-keeper told Latest TV.

“A circus used to come here in the late 1800s to early 1900s which had around 1,500 staff.

An elephant once became poorly and they dug a hole and buried it here in the park.”

A hot air balloon is also featured to remember a flight that took place at the park’s opening.

Community artist group, Red Herring, volunteered to design and paint the mural.

Local children have also had some of their designs included.

“We did a workshop here and children did some collage pieces based on anything that lives in the park”, artist Rebecca Angel said.

“We had some really lovely, simple cutout ideas of dogs and beasts and they all fit into the mural.

It adds another thing for the children that they can come and find”.

Artists add the final touches to the mural.

A launch event attended by Peter Kyle MP is planned for 26 August.

Further plans for the launch have currently been suspended due to the latest Covid-19 restrictions.

Report by Olivia Marshall, Latest TV.