We’ve been working hard in Halton, in partnership with the Illegal Money Lending Team, to raise awareness of the dangers of Illegal Lenders (a.k.a. Loan Sharks). There are an estimated 310,000 households across the country that are in debt to loan sharks. Halton has a significant problem with Illegal Money Lenders, due to high poverty rates and low wages for paid workers.  

We have collaborated with young people from Widnes and Runcorn to create digital posters, warning people of the dangers of illegal money lending. The designs from these posters will be collated by Zap Graffiti to make a large mural piece of art, which will be painted onto the floor of Widnes Market.

The painting will be a live event, filmed by the BBC for their program Ill Gotten Gains (which airs in 2020). We would like to invite the children of Halton to participate in the live painting of the mural, working with Zap Graffiti. The children can also get involved in making their own pin badges, whilst watching the mural masterpiece take shape.

The day will also have representatives from the Illegal Money Lending Team, Credit Union and Halton Police ready to give advice should anyone need it.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it, we will also be live-streaming the event on our MakoDigital Arts CiC Facebook and our MakoCreate Facebook pages.

We hope to see you there, Saturday 12th October 2019 from 9:00am.