Rainbows - Colours of Maes Clyd, Llandudno

Description

"The idea at first started with chalking the back of the house, it then went to me and my two children Alfie (age 8) and Elsie-May (age 4) doing a rainbow and love heart on the front of our shed (second photo attached) so that people could see when they walk past.

About a week later, my mum did a big love heart on the other wall on the side of my house. When I saw this, it made me want to complete the whole wall. So I got started colouring every brick on that side with my children. My son decided it would be a great idea to write NHS in blue to show that we are thinking of them. (4th Picture attached)

Once I saw that whole wall covered in multicoloured chalk, I said to the kids, 'Let's do the entire house'.

I pulled out the ladders, and my sister Karla, her boyfriend Dave and daughter Leela-May came out to help. Karla, Dave and I were out in the rain until 11 pm that evening determined to get it done, but we had a big patch we couldn't reach.

The next morning we got up and asked my son's dad if we can borrow his tall ladders to reach the top of the house. He chalked all along the top of the house.

We were all so happy that it was completed but had no more bricks on my house to chalk as we had done every single brick, and even pulled the wheelie bin out to get behind it (hense me saying that it was very addictive).

My neighbour Pete came out and said how amazing it looks, I told him, 'Your turn next'; he said: 'I haven't got the patience but you can if you want'. Pete then got in the car and went to the shop, so Karla, Dave and I saw it as a challenge, and we chalked his shed wall whilst he was gone. It then caught on to my neighbour Marco on the other side, so we did his whilst he was eating his tea.

I posted these photos on Facebook on different groups for people to see, and the reaction was unreal. So many nice comments on there. Other neighbours on the same row commented and said we could do theirs as well if they wanted.

My mission then turned from chalking my whole house to chalking all sheds on my row (10 sheds) - I asked permission from every homeowner.

We stayed out again until 11 at night in the wind and rain to complete as much as we could.

The next morning we had three houses to complete on my row, and as we were doing them neighbours from further down permitted for theirs to be done as well, so this now turned the mission to do the whole of our street. Again we were out until 11pm in the rain to complete as much as possible. We then got back out first thing to carry on. Neighbours came out to give the kids a big bag of Skittles, and a big bag of Mini Eggs and thanked us for what we are doing.

When the neighbours asked how far would I go with it, I always said I'd got my eye on the block of flats; my sister Karla laughed and said, 'No chance' - but after we had finished my whole house and 14 sheds we decided to do something big for the 8pm clap for heroes. It was also Colonel Tom Moore's 100th Birthday that day. So we started on the block of flats.

My sister Karla and I spent the whole day from around one o clock until 7:55pm going up and down a ladder to get it done. Again, neighbours came out with drinks for us, and we had people offering to go to the shops for us, passers-by clapping us and taking photos and thanking us for what we were doing.

Once we had finished, we did the clap and sang 'Happy Birthday' together to Colonel Tom Moore, and then my daughter sang 'Let it go' by F. This lockdown, with two children, before all of this had been a bit up and down as my children were getting frustrated that they couldn't play out, couldn't go to a park or school to see friends. My daughter is also on the autistic spectrum (not yet diagnosed as she's too young, but she's under a specialist team who are treating her as autistic) and is finding this extraordinarily challenging. It has been very difficult being in lockdown with her, but this chalking mission has given the kids something exciting to do and gives us all something else to concentrate on and has made the days fly by.

I have had a few messages from neighbours thanking us for what we have done as they feel that we are now a close community, and that it has brought us all together again how it used to be years and years ago. I have also had messages from people who live in the flats who are self-isolating thanking us for what we have done as they now sit in the window and see what we are doing or have done and smile; we have given them something cheerful to look at.

My next mission is to complete either the whole block of flats multicoloured or to continue down onto the street leading onto ours, as we have one entrance but two other streets leading onto ours; or maybe both. We will see.


My name is Cherie Jones, I am 29 years old, and I am a single parent to Alfie age 8, and Elsie-May age 4. I was born in St Asaph and have lived in Craig y Don for nearly all my life, so a lot of my neighbours have seen me grow up from a very young child. So to do this for them and bring happiness back into their lives in such a sad and uncertain time is amazing, and to do it with my family is even better - something we all will never forget.


The 'Daily Post' has been and taken photos, and they are writing a report up about it, as well as the 'Pioneer' and we've had great support from North Wales Police.


I hope my chalking houses idea helps other families and their communities too."

- Cherie Jones