REMOVING a deteriorating town mural to save it for future generations would cost about £100,000, councillors were told.
The mural in St Mary’s Parish Hall, Barnard Castle, was painted and gifted to the town by art teacher Douglas Pittuck in the late 1950s. It shows a unique snapshot of life in Barnard Castle during the period but is in a poor state of repair.
A public meeting earlier this year showed a desire from residents to do something to preserve the artwork before it is lost.
Matthew Read, director of The Bowes Centre for Art, Craft and Design, who helped organise that meeting, gave an update to members of the town council last week.
He said one option was to restore the wall art and repaint it, but he said his view was that this would take the piece further away from its original state.
Mr Read added: “My personal view is that conservation and consolidation would prevent it from getting worse but the problem is the wall and it’s falling off. We have to accept it’s going.
“Conservationists might do something about slowing that process but we have now got a high quality digital image and we have got a quote in to get it digitally restored so we know what it would have looked like. But short of taking the whole wall away, it [the mural] is going to degrade.”
He said removing the wall to save the mural would cost £100,000 and these funds were not available.
Mr Read said The Bowes Museum may tender to carry out the work to consolidate the mural.
Meanwhile, a project has begun to create an exhibition of Douglas Pittuck’s life and work. Initial ideas are for it to take place next spring at several venues including The Witham and Barnard Castle School, where he taught. A funding application has been made to help support the event, which would raise money for consolidation work to the mural.
