Clapton Park Children's Centre
Meadow & Pollinators
Public Art Mural | Sept 2025
Designed and painted by
Claire Ward-Thornton, Art Hoppers
Clapton Park Children’s Centre
161 Daubeney Rd, Lower Clapton, London E5 0EP
Commissioned by:
Clapton Park Children’s Centre
and Hackney Forest School
in partnership with ecoACTIVE
Public Art Mural
Inspired by the Hackney Buzzline initiative to make Hackney a more biodiverse, beautiful place. The mural takes the visual reference of wild meadows buzzing with life as inspiration. The design includes the Common Blue and Painted Lady butterflies, the Jersey Tiger moth plus a White-Tailed Bumblebee. These pollinators busy themselves amougst white and pink clover, dandelions, cornflower, knapweed, poppies and various grasses seen through painterly expressions of colour and texture.
Designed and painted by Claire Ward-Thornton, Art Hoppers founder. The sample design using pencil crayons (see page header and bottom of page) sprung into life using water-based paint and brushes. The use of visible brushmarks expresses the movement and energy of the scene.
Hackney Buzzline is an ambitious initiative to create a flower-rich green corridor linking Hackney’s parks, supporting bees and butterflies, and encouraging people to connect with nature. Alongside work on the mural, ecoACTIVE led a separately funded renovation of the adjacent flower bed and surrounding area as part of the site improvements.
Claire’s magnificent mural has become the centrepiece of our new nature gateway linking Hackney Marshes and Homerton. It brings colour and joy to the neighbourhood, beautifully complementing the park meadows, community gardens, and street planting that are helping to restore the area’s pollinator heritage. The project has been a true community endeavour, and Claire’s work captures its spirit perfectly.
Clapton Park Children’s Centre and Hackney Forest School in partnership with local charity ecoACTIVE commissioned mural artist Claire Ward-Thornton (CWT) to deliver a new public art mural for the exterior fence surrounding the children’s play area.
Located at the end of Daubeney Road, the Children’s Centre runs parallel to the well-trodden footbridge – a vital link between Lower Clapton and the green expanse of Hackney Marshes. The fence defines the boundary between the nursery garden and the public walk way.
The mural stretches approx 22m in length and 2m in height.
Community engagement
The mural was funded by local residents who donated toward a Crowdfunder initiated by local parent Adam Cochrane whose family engage in the services provided by the Children’s Centre and Forest School.
A Crowdfunder shared through local community networks and advertised via posters in the area quickly reached the financial target enabing the project to move forward.
A consultation afternoon was set-up at the Children’s Centre to ask children and their families what plants and pollinators they would like to see depicted in the mural.
Next, a start date was agreed for painting the fence. Local residents and families got together to volunteer in applying the base coats of colour in readiness for the design. This was a fun day for all ages fuelled by pizza!
Thank you again Claire for all your hard work and commitment – from our first conversation through to the beautiful finished product, you’ve brought an amazing positive and collaborative energy which has really helped us to see what was possible and ultimately to bring my original vision to life in a way that has totally exceeded our expectations.
COMMUNITY VALUES
The local community explain:
This project is about more than paint. It’s about giving our neighbourhood something to be proud of. It’s about creating a space that feels cared for, welcoming and alive with nature.
The mural and restored flower bed will offer a brighter, more peaceful environment for everyone who uses the bridge – from families and dog walkers to joggers and cyclists. It will help discourage vandalism and littering and signal that this is a space loved by the community.
We want to see this space thrive – as a biodiverse, colourful and inclusive part of Hackney’s green network, and a beautiful invitation into the wild spaces beyond.
Before & After
See how the appearance of the fence has changed.
The initiative of creating a mural for the public footpath was managed by Clapton Park Children’s Centre and Hackney Forest School in partnership with local charity ecoACTIVE.
The project was funded by the generous support of local residents via Crowdfunder.
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