Full service agency Cornerstone Design and Marketing have transformed a school history project into a giant mural adorning the walls of conferencing facilities at Bolton Arena Sports Village in Horwich.
The project chronicles 800 years of Horwich history and was completed by sixth form students at Bolton School.
The collaboration between the arena and the school, which itself dates back to 1516, came about when the arena’s commercial team set about upgrading the conference facilities.
Oldham-based Cornerstone is the arena’s marketing, PR and signage partner and when Sam Casey, Cornerstone’s Print Room and Signage Manager, heard about the upgrade and the link up with the school, he hit on the mural idea as part of the refurbishment.
Designed by Chris Dixon from the agency’s design team, the epic timeline uses striking graphics, photographs and captions to document the original settlement of ‘Horewic’ in 1221 up until the construction of the arena and its role in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
It took Sam and his print room colleague Steve Gill 10 hours to piece together the 78ft artwork, which is now garnering lots of attention and admiration.
Sam says: “We’ve done jobs of all shapes and sizes, and this was definitely one of the bigger ones. The printing and fitting had to be very precise over such a large area but I’m glad to say the whole thing went together very well in the end.”
Lee Wood, Head of Commercial at Bolton Arena Sports Village, explains: “Our aim was to do something unique to elevate our conferencing facilities to the next level. When the conferencing space is opened up, it provides a 78ft wall that we felt could be turned into something distinctive and engaging.
“Horwich has some great history, something we thought it would be important to showcase, so I contacted the Bolton Historical Association and the idea of having Bolton School students support the project evolved from there. They’ve done a fantastic piece of work to pull it all together, as has Sam and the team at Cornerstone.”
The timeline was researched and collated by four students from Bolton School’s Girls’ Division along with Melissa Wright, Secretary of the Bolton branch of the Historical Association and a teacher at the school.
She says: “This has been an amazing project to be part of. The girls have had the opportunity not only to develop their skills in historical research, they have also gained a more rich and vibrant understanding of our local history and indeed its links to Bolton School Foundation’s long historical links to Lord Leverhulme. It really has been a wonderful learning experience for them.”
Eliza Denson, one of the students who worked on the project, says: “We are really excited to see our research come to life and being transformed into such a visually striking timeline that will be seen by hundreds of visitors to the arena. That is really rewarding!”
Based in Lees, Cornerstone offers services in: marketing strategy, advertising, design, digital, PR and copywriting, web, and print and signage.
Pictured are (left to right) Sam, designer Chris and Steve in the Cornerstone print room and a section of the mural about Horwich Loco Works.