Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Gran-archy in the UK as Aberdeen’s spray-painting OAPs return to brighten up drab park

Post Thumbnail

A drab Aberdeen park is to be given a splash of colour by a well-known group of graffiti-loving pensioners.

The Granarchists are to work with nursery and primary pupils to brighten up a wall across the road from Gilcomstoun School.

The group is a spin-off of The Graffiti Grannies, who were brought together for the city’s Nuart festival in April.

They grabbed headlines across the country and, at the height of it all, were even invited onto ITV’s This Morning to show off their skills.

As part of the city’s street art festival they were taught how to make stencils and spray their designs on walls in the city centre.

The ‘Graffiti Grannies’ in work

Now separating themselves from NuArt, The Granarchists hope to offer their work far and wide across the city.

Their first project will be working with the children from Gilcomstoun to brighten up the Skene Street park, but they hope to follow it up with a string of projects across Aberdeen.

One of those brightening up the park, Rosemary Murray, said: “We are absolutely chuffed to have our first commission to make the play area a nicer place to be.

“We will go into the school for four weeks in September and teach the children what to do. They will do everything but cutting the stencils, as we cannot let them loose with scalpels.”

The 77-year-old retired head teacher of the former Raeden Centre in Aberdeen added: “Just now it has a couple of swings and a picnic table, it is so boring.”

The art will celebrate the diversity of Gilcomstoun School, where there are 30 languages spoken by pupils.

Children will decorate the imposing grey wall with words meaning “play” in their native tongues.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


The so-called Skene Street Project has been a long-running effort by Aberdeen City Centre Community Council to make the space more attractive.

Chairman Dustin Macdonald said: “This is extremely exciting and we always wanted the school kids to be involved.

“It was important that everyone felt involved from young to old – and we definitely have that covered.

“What comes of it will be a really nice space that will brighten up the place, and people will stop to look at it.”