Mural above Art & Soul in Wingham reflects history of ice cream parlor

A new mural sitting on the face of the building atop the Art and Soul Gallery shop face was installed on Friday morning, July 2.

The building was built in 1914 and originally housed Mrs Worthing's Ice Cream Parlor (as she spelled it in those days). The mural pays homage to the building's history.

Art and Soul co-founder, Ron Hindmarsh said a lot of research had gone into the history of the building before work eventually started on the panels in January this year.

Ron sourced old photographs to work from and with the help of a small team of Art and Soul group members, 14 panels were painted over "many, many, many hours" of work.

The building is now owned by the Anglican Church, who were only too happy to allow the murals to grace the building.

"Because they let us use the building (for the gallery), we did it for them," Ron said.

The mural was painted in monotone heritage colours "to keep the heritage look of Wingham," Ron said.

The mural was made possible with the help of Rotary and the support of Member for Myall Lakes, Stephen Bromhead for a grant of $10,000.

Ron also wanted to thank Art and Soul group members Ron Irwin, Greg Weeks and Brett Irvine for their help in painting the murals, and Ron Moore from Absolute Construction for installing the mural.

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Ron hopes they may be able to complete another one or two murals above shops in Isabella Street with what is left of the grant.

"We'd like to do two more murals in town with the co-operation of building owners," Ron said.

"The idea of the murals that we are doing is to tell the history of that particular shop."

Ron has also completed a mural that sits on the old Central Garage building, which now houses part of Manning Pumps and Irrigation. That project was supported by the Wingham Advancement Group.

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