Calendar girl paints Warrington’s past

1:00pm Thursday 4th December 2008

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THE streets of yesteryear Warrington have come back to life all thanks to gifted artist Brenda Shaw.

She has been painting iconic scenes of the borough throughout the ages for St Rocco’s Hospice calendars for 10 years.

The 70-year-old, of Derby Drive, Bruche, decided to help out after her father had been treated by the hospice.

“The hospice is a lovely place,” she said.

“The people, the nursing staff you could not wish for anything nicer. I have had first-hand experience with them. It is just wonderful and they do such a good deal of work.”

Painting was purely her hobby for many years until she decided to help raise money for a new scanner at Warrington Hospital by using her paintings.

Then when she came in contact with St Rocco’s she decided to help them out by offering her work free of charge for use in its calendar.

The 2009 calendars are already selling fast and at only £3.50 they are helping to raise money for the vital work the hospice does.

Mrs Shaw added: “They are going like hot cakes. A lot of people buy them as Christmas presents and a lot of people buy them to send abroad to Warrington ex-pats.”

Each month on the calendar features a recipe along with one of Mrs Shaw’s paintings that can be torn out and used as postcards once you have finished with that month.

But there is no time to rest for Brenda, as work has already started on the 2010 artwork.

This Saturday Brenda will be signing copies of the calendar at St Rocco’s Christmas Hospice Shop, based in Golden Square from noon until 2pm.