GRAFFITI can be defined both as an art form and illegal vandalism. Unfortunately, the graffiti that predominates in Evesham is perpetrated by vandals.
It creates a negative, unsafe impression of an area. Residents, business operators, workers and visitors must have noticed the graffiti tags that adorn walls, fences, telecoms, and utility boxes.
This type of graffiti is a form of antisocial behaviour and is a scourge up and down the country, with local police seemingly unable (or under-resourced) to identify offenders and put a stop to it.
Graffiti in Davies Road taken in 2025. Picture by Peter Stewart
Alongside parents and carers, do local schools and colleges educate children sufficiently that this form of graffiti is wholly unacceptable?
Last year, Evesham Place Board commissioned a contractor to remove the graffiti in prominent locations in the town centre, its area of interest.
However, this has not been a deterrent to further graffiti, which remains a problem in the town centre as well as in residential areas. It is a thankless, never-ending and expensive job to keep removing it.
There are, however, examples of wall painting as an art form in our town that have been commissioned and/or authorised but we appreciate that even this is not acceptable to everyone.
A few years ago, Evesham Abbey Trust commissioned the Garage Art Group to paint a mural on boards big enough to fully screen the side of a shipping container that was being used to store tools in what is now Abbey Gardens.
The mural depicts Evesham’s first Abbot in a riverside setting. When the mural was no longer required it was moved to a permanent location on a frame in Abbey Park, beside the children’s play area.
The Wychavon Communities team also worked with and paid for an artist to engage with the local community to produce a mural and graffiti wall in Charity Brook Park.
Picture by Peter Stewart
At about the same time, Evesham Place Board commissioned a mural to be placed on the shop front of the old Argos store on High Street.
More recently, the youth groups Ourside Youth Association and You Turn Centre have engaged their members in painting murals at the premises that they use.
The latest initiative is a large mural that is being painted on the wall and pillars on the park side underneath Abbey Road Bridge.
Ourside Youth has again been involved, discussing designs with the artist Tech Moon aka Krishna Malla that Wychavon has funded. If you are in town, this is going to be well worth a look.
By engaging young people in this positive, creative work, it is hoped that they will set a good example to their peers to steer them away from destructive graffiti tagging and towards participating in creative endeavours at authorised locations.
