1 August 2011

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

THE Millennium Mural around the restaurant area in Chequer Mead has been accepted as one of the nation’s ‘secret’ art works on a new BBC website.

The British taxpayer owns around 200,000 paintings nationwide, most of which are either hidden away in vaults, or hanging, unpublicised, on walls which most people don’t know about and never get to see.

So the BBC has pledged to discover the nation’s hidden art treasures and make them available to a wider audience on line.

And among the first 63,000 to be accepted are the 28 panels designed by the late East Grinstead artist Bill Lehan who organised the pictorial history of the town to mark the Millennium.

“The panels have been very popular with townspeople ever since they first went up, and they are also a real talking point with visitors, who appreciate being able to read a potted history of East Grinstead while they have a cup of coffee,” said theatre manager Hannah Kester. “So I am delighted that the mural will now, potentially, have a worldwide audience.”