A YOUNG artist unveiled a project to remember on Armistice Day after collaborating with a local business.

Graffiti artist Aidan Dawe was inspired to create a memorial piece after opportunistically noticing a blank wall at the back of Willows Tea Room, in High Street.

He said: “It was really short notice to be fair, I noticed they had painted their back wall black on the Friday before Remembrance Sunday and I thought it would be a great place to have a memorial piece, if they’d allow it.

“On the Saturday I went in and asked them if I could do something like a ‘Lest We Forget’ piece, I still hadn’t drawn a sketch yet but I had a rough idea in my head, and they said they were happy for me to do it, originally on the basis that I’d paint over it if they asked me to.”

The design Aidan envisioned had cursive style letters reading ‘Lest We Forget’ and some poppies.

He later decided to add a skyline with blue paint and sprayed the stencil of soldiers’ silhouettes over it.

The project came together last minute and was finished just before the Remembrance parade on Sunday morning.

Aidan said: “It didn’t take me too long to do, I was supposed to start it on Saturday night but I got rained off, so I came out at 8am on Sunday and got it finished at about 10.30am, just before everybody starting turning up for the memorial service.”

Aidan, aged 22, has been creating graffiti since he was a child.

He has started his own business selling canvases and painting bedroom walls.

He said: “I’ve been drawing graffiti on bits of paper ever since school. I used to just sit in lessons doodling on my work and I only really started working with cans, I don’t know at about 15 or 16, so a good seven years of can work.”

He is thrilled at the response his latest work has had.

“It’s had a massive response on Facebook so far, the post in Spotted in Andover had over 450 likes and with all the people who shared it it’s reached approximately 13,000 people last time I checked it.

“I haven’t got any community projects set in stone yet, although I was approached by Duncan Powell of the British Legion, who asked me if I could maybe do something in their building for them.”