Estuary Fringe Festival: Surbiton Avenue 'graffiti grannies'

Renowned Southend artist John Bulley, who has helped organise the festival, came up with the idea in a bid to change the “rebellious” perception of street art and graffiti. 

The team of grannies had to be eligible for a bus pass to take part and were selected by John after putting their names forward to join in with the fun. 

Over the course of three days, the three women, all over the age of 65, spray painted a hoarding at Surbiton Avenue, in Southend, filling it with images of elderly people and writing the names of iconic musicians such as Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and Jimmy Hendrix. 

Masterpiece: The grannies put the final touches on their street art. (Image: John Bulley)

John said the artwork had proved popular and the three “grannies” loved being involved with the project.

“The response has been hilarious and people have really loved it,” he added.

“Quite often people hate graffiti and don’t really like it, but we are making people smile on the street. We have cheered them up and we’ve had a good time, too.

“The grannies have loved it and they want to do more now. I’ll never be able to get rid of them. I fear I may have started something terrible, in the nicest possible way of course.

John says the art has cheered people up. (Image: John Bulley)

“Graffiti is usually seen as sort of young person, rebellious and anti-establishment thing, so I thought it would be such a laugh to get a bunch of older people to do it.”

The project was part of the Estuary Fringe Festival which has been running in the city since 2012, bringing large-scale public artwork to the town.

The festival, supported by Project Southchurch and the Milton Community Partnership, has been running for close to two weeks and was set to celebrate its final day yesterday.

John said: “It has been a lot of hard work. It is very tiring to organise festivals like this.

“It has been great so far. 

“We have had a really great response from the community.”