CHILDREN from Halliwell have been busy over the summer months creating colourful murals.

The pieces of art produced by the boys and girls have now been put on display at St Matthew's Church Hall, in Brownlow Way, and a celebration launch of the work has been held.

The children and their teachers attended the event, as well as the deputy mayor Cllr Alan Wilkinson.

The youngsters were part of the Halliwell Action for Working Alongside Youth group, an organisation which aims to get young people involved in projects in their community.

Four murals are on display at St Matthew's Church Hall and a fifth panel, which measures two metres by three metres, has been mounted on the outside wall of the rear play area at nearby St Paul's Church in Halliwell Road.

The youngsters spent many hours working with artist Tracey McKay and community youth worker Marian Jackson.

The initiative was funded by Bolton Council and involved the work of the Housing Percent for Art group, which aims to get children from social housing working on art programmes.

Kevin Wallace, who works for the organisation, said: "We put together quite a wide range of art programmes which allow children to create art, including sculptures and mosaics."

Tiles for the work were donated by Topp's Tiles and Tony Yates of ABD Ceramics.

Children are always invited to get involved with the HAFWAY group and anyone interested should call Miss Jackson on 439148.