Have you spotted some benches in your community suddenly being brightened up with a lick of paint and covered in bright red flowers? Cwmbran Life tracked down the person who has been behind these ‘poppy benches’.  Last Saturday we caught Alyson Davies on Springvale with a tin of blue paint and a paintbrush and had a chat on Facebook Live.

She lives in Cwmbran and isn’t a painter or decorator. It’s all done in her spare time just to make the area look nicer.

Alyson started the project to encourage others to take pride in where they live. She said: “I’m on a mission to tidy this area up. It is so beautiful. I’m hoping it will inspire others to do a bit as well and it has as people do appreciate it. Loads of people come up and talk. The best thing I seen yesterday was an old couple sitting down by the planter and the bench I painted and eating fish and chips. And I thought ‘awww’, that’s lovely, that’s really lovely. That really made my day that did.”

She uses transfers of red poppies once the paint is dry. But sometimes paints them on herself.

The paint is kindly donated by the Community Repaint scheme based at CoStar in Greenmeadow. You can pick up top brands of paints for fraction of the price to decorate your home. They donate free tins to Alyson.

Before painting a bench she checks with the local councillor who gets permission from Torfaen Council. So far she has painted benches in Byways, Fairhill, Fairwater Way, Henllys Way and the park off Ty Gwyn Way.

WATCH: Alyson painting some benches on Springvale hill

A bench on Fairwater Way painted by Alyson