THEY say smiling is contagious - and so is spreading colour!
Cherie Jones and her family have been adding rainbow colours to a whole street in Craig-y-Don.
The idea started when Cherie, 29, chalked the back of her house in Maes Clyd. The mum and her children, Alfie, aged eight, and Elsie-May, aged four, then completed a rainbow and heart on the front of their shed.
Cherie and her family add colour to sheds on the street
About a week later, Cherie’s mum [Lorraine Jones] drew a heart on another wall. It wasn’t long before Cherie decided she would chalk the whole house.
“I pulled out the ladders and my sister Karla, her boyfriend Dave and daughter Leela-May came out to help,” she explained.
“Karla, Dave and myself were out in the rain until 11pm that evening determined to get it done."
With no more bricks left on her house to chalk, after being granted permission, Cherie’s attention turned to adding colour to 10 sheds on her street.
“My neighbour Pete said my house looked amazing,” Cherie explained.
With permission granted, Cherie and her family went on to chalk 10 sheds in rainbow colours
“I said to him ‘your turn next’ but he said he hadn’t got the patience. We saw it as a challenge. We chalked his shed and then my neighbour Marco, we did his whilst he was eating his tea.”
After posting photographs on Facebook, other neighbours - living on the same row of houses - asked Cherie if she could colour their houses.
Cherie said: "We stayed out again until 11pm at night in the rain and wind to get it complete as much as we could.
"The next morning we had three houses to complete on my row.
Cherie’s son decided it would be a ‘great idea’ to write NHS in blue to show their appreciation
"As we were doing them, neighbours from further down gave permission for theirs to be done as well. This quickly turned into a mission to do the whole of the street.
"Neighbours came out to thank us for what we are doing."
When neighbours asked how far she would go, Cherie replied she had 'her eye on a block of flats.'
"My sister Karla laughed and said 'no way' but after we had finished my whole house and 14 sheds - we decided to do something bigger," she said.
As it was Colonel Tom Moore's 100th Birthday and the Clap for Our Carers, the sisters started on the block of flats nearby.
The mission to chalk one house quickly evolved!
Once finished, the sister joined neighbours to sing Happy Birthday for Colonel Moore and Cherie's daughter sang 'Let it Go' from Frozen.
Cherie, who has lived in Craig-y-Don since she was a young child, said: "It has been very difficult being in lockdown but this chalking mission has given the kids something exciting to do and gives us all something else to concentrate on. It has made the days fly by.
"I have had messages from neighbours thanking us for what we have done. They feel we are now a close community.
"I have also had messages from people who live in the flats who are self isolating thanking us for what we have done. They sit in the window and see what we are doing or have done and smile.
"We have given them something cheerful to look at."
Cherie has set up a donations page after residents asked if they could give money. All money is going to NHS Charities Together.
To donate visit https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158092697035586&id=599830585
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