The shady side of Isabella Street is now a more pleasant place to rest your feet, following the installation of two solid timber seats – one outside the CWA rooms and the other near McKeough’s Betta Home Living.
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The seating is one of the projects funded by some of the $50,000 Future Towns Program funding that led to place activation in Wingham’s CBD.
“One of the things that came up at all of the community consultation sessions was that we need more seating in the CBD,” Chamber of Commerce president, Liz Jarvis said.
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Liz recalled the stunning chairs Nigel Brown of Nigel Brown and Sons of the Gums creates each year to be raffled as a prize at Wingham Akoostik Music Festival, and approached him.
The final result has Liz pleased with the decision Chamber made to contract Nigel to make the seating.
“They are really beautifully designed. He went to a lot of effort,” Liz said. “They’re as much a statement as anything else.”
Watch Nigel Brown explain the proposed design and carvings at the Wingham Activation Blitz Weekend:
The seats are thoughtfully designed. Nigel took into account the elderly population and incorporated wide arm rests to make them easier to get out of.
And they are not just ordinary timber seats. Carvings adorn the legs of the chair near the CWA rooms and the back of the seat up the street has a historical scene of the old Wingham Wharf at Wingham Brush in the seat carved into its back rest.
“He did a lot of research for the carving,” Liz said.
More to come
There are more projects yet to be completed under the place activation funding that will add yet more interest to our town.
There is a mural project in the pipeline, and more planter boxes to be installed near the roundabout in Isabella Street and in the cafe area from the Garden Grub to Bent on Food.
The noticeboard is underway and will be erected outside Wingham Newsagency, and historical plaques are yet to be placed on buildings.
Money has been allocated to assist the Manning River Turtle Conservation Group hold another Winter Solstice Lantern Walk in 2018, and also for Wingham High School to show a summer film.
And two more artists walks, similar to the one run on the Sunday of the Wingham Activation Blitz Weekend, are also planned.