A GROUP of artists turned an empty wall into a poppy memorial in time for Remembrance Day events.

John Bulley, 63, and his team created the gigantic poppy by the railway bridge in Southend High Street.

The poppy was painted in time for Remembrance Sunday and was funded by Southend’s Business Improvement District, a group of businesses who plan to fund more of John’s artistic projects in the future.

John, from Southchurch, is the artist behind giant pictures of Michael Caine in his famous role as Jack Carter, Bob Hoskins as the nutty gangster in the Long Good Friday, and the notorious Kray twins which adorned derelict building in Southchurch Avenue, Southend.

He said: “We set up a meeting with BID and said we think its about time someone did something with the town and they were very receptive.

“As it was Remembrance Sunday I thought why not do a gigantic poppy. BID gave us £500 to pay the artists and we were down under the railway bridge in the High Street at 8am on Sunday.”

Dawn Jeakings, chairman of Southend BID, said: “A priority for us is zero tolerance to graffiti, especially to the wall above the railway bridge. The group has paid for the graffiti to be removed from this area on previous occasions.

However, we wanted to provide a more visual and sustainable way of improving this focal point for the town centre.

“This poppy is a really poignant piece of street art in the month when we are all remembering those who have fallen.”

John, who has also done work for Rochford District Council, hopes to bring more street art and culture to Southend through his involvement with the Estuary Fringe, an alternative art festival which takes place in the summer and brings together artists, writers, poets and musicians at a range of events across the town.

He said: “We hope to turn Southend into an interesting place. In conjunction with BID, we want to identify dead spaces and empty shops and walls that are covered in graffiti.

We’ll get local artists and poets to do stuff to make the town a vibrant and nice place to be.”