CHILDREN and volunteers have created a surreal seaside scene on a blank cement wall as part of a scheme to improve an area of Redcar.

The 1st Redcar Cubs, along with year 11 volunteers from Egglescliffe Comprehensive School, the Tees Valley Wildlife Trust and local artist Sarah Prouse, created the seaside art at Church Street.

The work, which is part of an ongoing scheme to improve the area, was carried out thanks to money from Barclays SiteSavers - a scheme to help communities transform derelict and neglected land into dynamic spaces for fun, education, relaxation and play for children.

Clare Eyeington, assistant education officer of Tees Valley Wildlife Trust, said: "The group has created seaside art on an unwittingly boring cement wall.

"They have created a surreal scene of the Coatham cost, with an array of special creatures from a pipe-smoking turtle surrounded by diving dolphins, and a peculiar sea monster.

"It looks fantastic."

Members of the New Deal Environmental Task Force and HMP Kirklevington Grange Task Force have already changed the nearby messy play area, in the middle of a housing estate, and turned it into a planting bed.

A local school will also help out at the site by planting a number of species around the playground.

Anyone who would like to join in the digging and planting can contact the wildlife trust on (01642) 759900.