Tain youth volunteers give ‘disheartening’ underpass a spruce up ahead of Spring makeover
A group of young people in Tain has given one of the town’s most iconic sites the beginnings of a makeover.
The Tain Underpass, which connects pedestrians coming from the north side of the town with the south, travels under the A9 from St Vincent Road to a foot path which runs alongside Birch Place and Pinewood Place.
For most of its existence, it has been decorated with multi-coloured jigsaw pieces painted on both sides and the front face of the dimly-lit tunnel.
But in recent years, calls have been made by members of the public for the walkway to be spruced up, with “offensive” graffiti and rude daubing leaving local users feeling fed up and even “intimidated” by its appearance.
One concerned member of the public said it was “disheartening” to see it being used by young children as their route to school in the morning
This past week, Youth Voice – a group of young people aged between 11 and 18 – decided to do something about it, and took to the Underpass with brushes and tins of white paint to give it the basis of a new look ahead of a bigger revamp planned for next year.
Youth Voice say there are plans to do something special in the spring, but until then, "a quick paint over some of the offensive stuff will have to do for now."
The group meet with the Tain’s Highland Council Youth Services team regularly to discuss projects and issues for youngsters in the community.
Rob Parkes, Youth Development Officer, said: “The group is open for anyone to join and promoted mainly through Tain Royal Academy – although we will be doing a bigger promotion of it in the new year.
“We have had a forum in some form for over 12 years. Every high school area has a Youth Forum – but our group decided that they preferred the term, Youth Voice.
“The Underpass is something they felt strongly about and responded by taking action by painting over the worst of the graffiti until it is dealt with properly next year by working with others to see a design created and painted at the site.
“This will involve lots of partners working together, but ultimately the input and ownership from the young people will be key.
“The initial idea came from Fiona Macleod – who works at Craighill primary, who posted the idea on Facebook with a huge response and support for the idea.
“We hope she will continue to be involved in making this happen with all the interested parties.”
