The artwork, painted by local artist Adam J Connors, while a fitting homage to two of Bray’s sporting legends, is also a real testament to the collective community spirit that prevails in the neighbourhood. With the slogan placed between the two boxers, ‘When Dreams Become Reality’, it will have a lasting impact, fitting once again, given it wasn’t the easiest of battles for this particular dream to become a reality either.
There were a lot of driving forces behind it, from the inspiration of Paul Treacy, manager of the community centre, to the dogged perseverance of local councillor Dermot O’Brien, as well as Ashling Smith (Pilates with Ash), who spearheaded the fundraising drive.
Even the crew at Chadwicks in Bray deserves a mention for sponsoring the use of the scissor lift which helped hoist Adam to great heights to complete the work. Of course, none of it would have been possible without the wishes of the two subjects, who gave it a wholesome blessing and a seal of approval.
“It’s complete,” Daina posted on the Facebook page. “Absolutely delighted what an honour to be beside the legend herself, big thank you to Connect Ballywaltrim South Bray.”
The genesis for the idea of the mural goes back to last year, when the community held a homecoming event for Daina after the Paris Olympics.
Ashling expressed an interest in her business community sponsoring the project, and, as Paul explained, “we roped Adam in and we got on to Councillor Daisy and stakeholders and it’s taken almost a year to get over the line”.
“But we finally got there,” he said. “So the idea is that two Olympians came from the same community, and it was just a way of kind of putting it out there and celebrating their achievements, because they do inspire young people in the area. And it’s a nice way to celebrate that.”
Once permission was granted by the council in June, it was decided that a competition should be opened to involve the young people in the community in devising a suitable slogan. The winner, a member of the youth project, was Darcy Crinnion, who came up with the befitting words: ‘When Dreams Become Reality’.
Paul said everyone has been “thrilled” with the result.
It was a “no-brainer” for Ashling, when she offered to take over the fundraising side of the project.
“I started out my business in Ballywatrim Community Centre,” she said. “They’ve always been really great to me. So I approached Paul and said I’d be interested. And I went back to my Pilates community and told them what was happening and would they be in. And it was a resounding ‘yes’ from everybody,” she said.
“They wanted to support it. So over the long winter, through planning applications etc, we waited and waited and waited. And when we got the go-ahead, the money just came pouring in for us. But at no stage was it a given. Similar projects in other areas, I believe, have been refused. But Daisy O’Brien was a real driving force behind getting this through. So it was an absolute privilege to be able to support this for our two Olympic athletes.”
It was also a privilege for the man on the scissor lift, Adam J Connors, who said: “Such an honour to paint a mural of these two Bray legends in their own neighbourhood. Got to spend a couple of weeks in the area, met the nicest people and one thing is for sure, every single person there has so much love for them.”