A Happy Space
Bringing
Banbury
Together
This project was supported by the Chiltern Railways Community Investment Fund and initiated by Banbury Business Improvement District (BID). The Community Investment Fund champions local initiatives that create lasting, positive impact across the Chiltern Railways network.
"Projects like this are about so much more than public art. They create reasons to visit, encourage people to spend time in our town centre and showcase the power of collaboration in creating places that people feel connected to."
Liz Swift, Retail Liaison Manager for Castle Quay
"Town centres are struggling at the moment. To see something like this that represents the community, where you're not trying to sell anything, and where young people can see themselves reflected in their town, is really lovely."
Chiltern Railways
"It fills me with hope, seeing the world through a child’s eyes and seeing what’s possible. It’s always inspiring and leaves me feeling better, happier and lighter."
Chiltern Railways
"It is just amazing how the children’s original work has come to life. It is stunning."
Sally Moore, welfare and safeguarding officer at Hill View Primary School
"When you let children's imagination run free, they tell you absolutely as it is in their eyes—utterly genuine, non-cynical, unfiltered, and all the better for it."
Councillor Gareth Epps, Cabinet Member for Transport at Oxfordshire County Council
"It's the brightness, it's future-looking, and it's exactly the sort of thing I'm delighted to see in a public space."
Councillor Gareth Epps, Cabinet Member for Transport at Oxfordshire County Council
"It was so seamless to work with David and Vicki to transform this space, and it’s been really touching watching the children’s drawings come to life from start to finish."
Jasmine Gilhooly, Banbury BID Strategist
Banbury Town Centre Public Art Mural
Bringing communities together through a 40 metre interactive artwork
The Challenge:
To create a 40 metre public art mural in collaboration with Year 5 and 6 pupils from primary schools across Banbury, delivered within just five weeks.
The goal was to create a large scale artwork that would engage the public, celebrate Banbury and bring children’s visions for the future of their town to life. The finished mural was designed to remain on display for a minimum of 12 months, creating a lasting piece of public art for the local community.
Our Approach:
Bringing the Banbury community into the creative process
We worked closely with Banbury BID, local schools, children, businesses and creative partners to develop a collaborative creative framework centred around education, wellbeing and enterprise.
Within a demanding five week timeframe, we structured the process to give young people a meaningful role in shaping the artwork. Their ideas, experiences and perspectives became the foundation for the mural, ensuring the final artwork was rooted in the people and character of Banbury.
Turning participation into a visual language
We delivered a series of focused, hands on creative workshops with pupils and local businesses. Participants explored what makes a happy and inspiring place, shared their ideas for the future of Banbury, and created drawings, written ideas and colour combinations to inform the mural.
These contributions became the raw material for the final artwork, transforming conversations and creative experiments into a bold visual language that brought together multiple voices and perspectives.
Creating a seamless large scale artwork
We brought together creative development, community engagement, client collaboration, photography, film, print and installation as one connected process.
By working closely with each partner and building flexibility into the creative development process, we were able to move ideas from workshops and sketches through to digital artwork, print production and installation. This approach kept the project moving at pace while maintaining a clear and cohesive creative vision.
From Children’s Insights to 153 Banbury Dogs
One of the most unexpected outcomes of the workshops was the role that pets played in the children’s ideas about wellbeing and what makes a happy space. Again and again, pupils highlighted their pets as an important source of comfort, companionship and happiness.
We responded by turning this insight into a distinctive feature of the mural: 153 individually illustrated Banbury dogs, each hand drawn dogs from the local community. What began as a simple observation from the workshops became a large scale creative challenge, transforming the children’s voices into one of the mural’s most playful and memorable elements.
The Outcome:
40 metre continuous public mural
The result was a continuous 40 metre mural forming one connected visual story across Banbury town centre.
The artwork brings together the ideas, voices and experiences gathered throughout the project, moving between different narratives while creating a bold and cohesive piece of public art. Designed to be experienced as a visual journey, the mural celebrates Banbury through the eyes of its younger generation and shares their visions for the future with the wider community.
A film shaped by the people of Banbury
We created a promotional film documenting the project from the first creative workshops through to the completed mural.
Narrated by an original poem written by ThomFong and inspired by the people, stories and character of Banbury, the film provides a creative record of the project and the community behind the artwork.
Banbury Explore Activity Booklet
To extend the project beyond the physical mural, we created an interactive Banbury activity booklet for children and families.
The booklet brings together creative prompts, activities and elements of the mural’s visual language, encouraging children to explore Banbury and engage further with the places, ideas and stories discovered during the project.
Banbury Futures Sticker Pack
We also developed a playful set of illustrated stickers inspired by the mural and the creative ideas generated through the workshops.
Designed to be collected, shared and used, the Banbury Futures sticker pack gave children a simple and accessible way to take the project’s imagery and ideas beyond the mural and into their everyday lives.