Great Western Railway and the Bee Friendly Trust partner up for mural project at Pangbourne Railway Station

A brilliant and bee-autiful mural has brightened the subway tunnel of Pangbourne Railway Station, spread the word about pollinators and celebrated an employee’s 20 years of service.

Helen Stock, a 45-year-old ticket officer who has worked on the railway for two decades and at Pangbourne for 16 years, wanted to improve the look of the station for her regular customers.

The immersive mural, which makes you feel as if you’re inside a vibrant beehive, aims to educate people about the good work bees do for the environment while also improving the look of the station.

Mrs Stock said of the project: “I’m always looking for more volunteers or any more input. I want the station to be a part of the community so I just want to get more involved.

“I’m totally open to any ideas and input from my customers. It’s not just my station, it’s all of ours.”

The ticket officer, who works Monday to Wednesday mornings at Pangbourne, wanted to celebrate her 20 years of service – a milestone she reached last October – by making the station feel more inviting.

Mrs Stock had ideas of planting flowerbeds and painting the underground subway tunnel herself, which she brought to her manager who got in contact with Great Western Railway’s projects team.

Bee Friendly Trust, a charity dedicated to raising awareness for pollinators by creating public educational artworks and installing wildlife habitats for bees, got involved and helped the project take shape.

Emma Pritchard from Bee Friendly said: “We’re very much about supporting bees and pollinators and showing how you can take neglected pockets of land and turn them into an attractive habitat for wildlife.”

Along with the mural, the Pangbourne project also saw the charity clear brambles around the station and plant bee-friendly shrubs and flowers to encourage pollination.

The charity said it was always looking for unique places to showcase artwork and for a long time they had wanted to create an immersive installation to make people feel like they’re within a bee colony.

Bee Friendly jumped on the chance when they discovered the Pangbourne subway, and got in contact with The Mural Artists, a collective of artists and designers that create murals across the UK and specialise specifically in natural-themed projects, to go about creating the immersive piece.

Andy Stanak, an artist who is part of The Mural Artists, worked 13-hour shifts over five days from Tuesday, May 10 to Saturday, May 14 to complete the project.

He said: “I was over the moon and really happy with the mural because it creates the feeling that you’re inside a beehive. The idea was crazy and I was really happy to do it.”

The mural, which features a stretch of the 45-metre long subway tunnel being painted in orange and yellow hexagons to represent a honeycomb in a hive, was digitally designed by Chris, another member of The Mural Artists.

He said: “Often the public don’t realise until they’ve stood in front of something like this the positive impact artwork like this on a large scale can have on people. They brighten up areas, make areas seem more pleasant and bring a bit of joy into people’s lives.”

As well as the hive design, there are also a number of bees lining the tunnel and station staircases. A selection of flowers were also incorporated into the design at Mrs Stock’s request.

Mr Stanak also said of his time painting the mural: “The best outcome out of it was that every single person that passed through smiled. On their way to work people were thanking me for brightening the place up and making it more inviting.”