Artist honours grandad with 'most special mural'

An international artist says he has created his "most special mural, ever" in his home town to honour his beloved grandfather.

Daniel Wilson, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, who now lives in Chicago, USA, returned home and painted a 15ft (five metre)-high image of Ken Irons, who died in 2002 aged 85.

The portrait was painted on the town's former TC Harrison Ford Garage, on Cambridge Street, which is due to be demolished and replaced with more than 70 retirement homes.

"I was using him as a representation of the town, to show its changing face as lots more younger people are moving to St Neots," Mr Wilson said.

"Every time I come back to St Neots from Chicago I always try and find a wall or an opportunity to do a mural and this time it happened," he said.

"Because it's being knocked down, the developers were fine with it, it's only ever intended to be temporary."

He said on the day he was due to paint it, 27 August, he did not know what the subject would be, but then he remembered he had photos of his grandfather when he studied photography at Cambridge Regional College.

"My end of year project was on my grandad, in 1997, I took some good quality images, I looked at one and thought, this will work well.

"Lots of people would have known him."

Mr Irons was born in Eynesbury, and lived most of his life in the village of Hail Weston.

"He was such a lovely, gentle guy, he was a very important influence on me, it was fantastic to paint him," Mr Wilson said.

"It's the most special, important, meaningful and enjoyable mural I've ever painted.

"I'm very proud to be able to showcase my grandad for the town - to see him and to remember him."

Mr Wilson's mother Joy said she was proud of her son's work and the painting of her father "was really personal".

"It has brought myself, my brother and my cousins together," she said.

She said that after posting on a local Facebook page, she received hundreds of positive comments, with many saying it was a wonderful memory to have created - and others praised her son's talent.

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