The Alloway Railway Tunnel Mural Project
Our project is to create one of Scotland’s largest murals through the Alloway Railway Tunnel.
Our project is to create one of Scotland’s largest murals through the Alloway Railway Tunnel.
Alloway village is near the town of Ayr on the Southwest coast of Scotland. It is one of the most beautiful villages in South Ayrshire. It’s the birthplace of Scottish poet Robert Burns.
We want to transform an old, dilapidated tunnel that has been defaced with graffiti into a safe, inspiring place, with a beautiful hand painted mural by one of the UK’s top muralists and visionaries. Chris Rutterford. About | Chris Rutterford
We are a Scottish charity with seven trustees from a variety of backgrounds, engineering, project management, banking and finance, social work, law, marketing and business.
Board of Trustees | My Site (allowaytunnel.org.uk)
We all care about improving our community by enhancing this walk/cycle path. We want to engage with young people to help them learn new skills by giving them exciting opportunities to get involved with our project.
It matters because Alloway is an idyllic village in South Ayrshire with worldwide recognition as the birthplace of Robert Burns. We are proud of this legacy and want to ensure residents and visitors have the best experience when exploring our village. Improving the tunnel through an amazing art installation will enhance that experience and help us tell the story not just about Robert Burns, but about the history of Ayrshire.
The mural will have interactive elements so that visitors can learn about the history of Ayrshire. It will be a celebration of our heritage and provide a lasting legacy. People will love the new space and want to revisit time and time again.
By improving our cycle path through the village, we hope to encourage more people to enjoy cycling and walking and experience all the wellbeing benefits this brings.
We will be visiting schools and youth groups to involve children in art workshops. They will learn creative skills through an educational process. Their work will be used to help create this massive mural and will create a sense of ownership and pride.
We will also be running creative workshops for adults who want to help paint the mural. We know it will be of interest to local art clubs, but we want it to be accessible to anyone who has an interest in helping to create the mural. It’s going to bring people together and with certain groups, will be a great rehabilitation project.
We are also liaising with students from Ayrshire College by providing exciting work experience opportunities in creative arts, social science, business and tourism, construction and supported education. These opportunities will increase their skills, knowledge, experience and confidence and help them get started in their careers.
Our main inspiration for the project is the Colinton Tunnel, located in the suburbs of Edinburgh. The muralist Chris Rutterford created the largest mural in Scotland – 140m – illustrating the Robert Louis Stevenson poem, ‘From a Railway Carriage.’ Take a look – we know you’ll be inspired by their story too. It will help you visualise what we are trying to achieve in Alloway.
The Colinton Tunnel Mural | Chris Rutterford
Since we started, we have:
Getting funding is key to achieving our vision. We need to pay for the preparation of the tunnel walls, including cleaning, masonry painting, as well as the artist costs.
If you would like to volunteer for the Alloway Railway Tunnel project, please email info@allowaytunnel.org.uk let us know how you would like to help us.
If you would like to make a donation to our Crowdfunder campaign please visit our fundraising page https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/alloway-tunnel
