NHS 'Rainbow Wall' created by family in Park Wood, Maidstone scrubbed away after mistakenly branded 'graffiti' by Golding Homes
15:36, 16 September 2020
updated: 16:24, 16 September 2020
A rainbow tribute to the NHS created by a three-year-old girl has been scrubbed away from the front of her family home as it was mistakenly branded ‘graffiti’.
Esmae Carreras created her ‘rainbow wall’ on the front of the flats in Hollingworth Road in Park Wood with mum Paige Hadaway, 23, and dad Curtis Carreras, 24, during lockdown.
On Tuesday morning, Miss Hadaway, woke to the sound of housing provider Golding Homes washing away the display which has been proudly on show since April.
Miss Hadaway said: “When I asked what was going on the lady said she has been told by her ‘big bosses’ that she has to scrub our NHS lockdown rainbow wall off because it’s branded as ‘graffiti’.
“Esmae was so upset. I had a battle trying to get her back in as I didn’t want her to see it at first but we walked past after and she said ‘where’s my lovely colours gone?’
“In her own words it was her ‘rainbow wall for the doctors fixing the yucky germs’ and now it’s gone.
“Shame on you Golding Homes, for taking away something that meant so much to all of us, especially the NHS.”
Golding Homes has apologised and said a mistake was made as genuine graftiti nearby was being scrubbed away.
The family who have just welcomed two-month-old baby Evie say they spent hours colouring in the bricks with pastel chalk as a way to get creative while stuck at home.
Mr Carreras, an alarm engineer, was able to continue as a key worker but Miss Hadaway, a mobile hairdresser like others in the industry, was suddenly forced to stay away from work.
The mum-of-two added: “At the time we decided instead of our daily walk we would get creative for the NHS working tirelessly throughout the pandemic.
“We don’t have a garden so Esmae has nowhere else to express her art and she wanted to create something to match her rainbow picture in the window.
“When it was done we had compliments from passers by about how it had brightened up their walks.”
Golding Homes’ director of operations Annemarie Roberts said: “We apologise to our resident and her children for removing their rainbow artwork.
"This appears to have been an oversight, as our hard-working team were tackling some areas of graffiti in the communal stairwell of the building.
"Our general policy is to remove any graffiti in communal areas, but we will be speaking with our cleaning and caretaking team to ensure we are being sensitive to any similar artwork and having a conversation with customers.
"We are working hard to keep our estates clean and catch up on issues such as graffiti and fly tipping, which we were unable to do during the lockdown period."
