VOLUNTEERS in Keighley have been working together to turn a car park flyover into an innovative street art project.

The Ramp Revamp Project, hosted by Keighley Creative, aims to transform an ‘under appreciated’ part of the town, into somewhere that the community can come together and enjoy.

Keighley Creative has been working with artists Aimee Grundell and Graphic designer Lee Goater to turn the overlooked car park ramp into a bright community art space to hold events.

Gemma Hobbs, Creative Lead at Keighley Creative said: “It’s all about making a more welcoming space for everybody. It used to be a very dark and unhappy place, so we thought let’s make that space an amazing space that people want to be in and get involved in.”

“The positivity we’ve had has been outstanding. People walk through and want to know what’s going on and get involved and that never used to happen.”

The area is also a celebration of the people who live there, as residents were able to nominate ‘pillars of the community’, for people ‘doing great things and going unnoticed’ in Keighley.

Images of these people have been put up on the pillars in the space, and Captain Sir Tom Moore has been put on one of them, as Keighley is so proud of him, Gemma added.

Artist Aimee Grundell said: “It’s great how everybody’s got involved, it’s been really lovely how many families with young children, who said they usually wouldn’t dare to walk through the area have come along. It brought a sense of playfulness to the space.”

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The project has been described as a ‘social experiment’ to see how if you change a place, how society might change around it..

Former graffiti rebel and shop Manager, Matthew Roberts is contributing to the project as he tried to brighten up the space himself with graffitied Yoshi dinosaurs 12 years ago but found himself with a police caution.

He said: “The piece I’m doing is similar to the piece I did before but it’s dedicated to the people of Keighley to show a positive side of the town. It’s a subtle piece but I’ve dedicated it to Keighley Town Council as a bit of a joke.

“When I was younger I just wanted to brighten up a bit of Keighley for the kids and stuff because there was nowhere like that.”

Volunteer, Ryan Davies said: “I’ve really enjoyed doing it and getting out of the house. I’ve never done volunteering or painting, but it’s been nice to have something else to put my eye to, especially after Covid.”

On 11th September an event will take place in the area to discuss what else it could be used for.