Fight on to save 25-year-old graffiti

Wales,UK

FORGET the whales, the ozone layer and industrial heritage – artists are fighting to save what they say must be South Wales’ oldest piece of graffiti.

For 25 years the people of Ewenny Road in Llanishen, Cardiff, have walked past the 4ft long MODS tag without thinking twice.

The art has become as much a part of the scenery as the railway arches and the reservoir.

“We moved here in 1984 and the graffiti was there then,” said pensioner Joan Hampton, 83, who lives with her son Phillip in their home directly opposite.

“It’s done with white paint and hasn’t faded at all. We’ve got so used to it we hardly notice it any more.”

And Neale Howells, an alternative artist who has exhibited in the Millennium Plaza in Cardiff, agrees that the art should stay.

“It would be great to see a sign next to it, saying when it was from. The council should cover it in perspex to preserve it,” said Neale, 29, of Herbert Road, Neath.