A stunning mural honouring Manchester United star – and free school meals campaigner – Marcus Rashford has appeared in Withington, the suburb where he used to live as a child.
The portrait of the footballer has been painted on the side of Coffee House Café on Copson Street.
The commemoration was organised by the Withington Walls project and created by Akse, a well-known local artist in the Manchester area.
Withington Walls is a street art project that aims to rejuvenate the village with a series of murals. It started out with the aim to raise £5,000 through crowdfunding, a total which was reached this time last year after just 37 days.
Their latest piece of the footballing hero aims to celebrate the huge amount of charity work that he has completed in recent months.
The portrait of the England international depicts his smiling face on a jet-black background carved onto the side of the café wall.
Rashford, who has been awarded an MBE, was successful in ensuring that many school children didn’t go hungry during the school holidays. He captured the nations heart by leading a campaign for the government to provide free school meals.
Recently the Government voted against extending free school meals further and the footballer responded by saying he will not give up on his efforts.
He was praised for his efforts during last Sunday’s Pride of Britain awards saying “Ultimately no kids should miss meals. For me that should be just standard no matter where you come from. If we get that as the new normal then we have made a lot of strides forward.”
Posting on Instagram, street artist Akse said “I hope this mural will inspire the local community as Marcus has inspired the whole nation with his campaign to fight child food poverty.”
