A GIANT mural featuring three Forest authors has been officially launched in Coleford.
The painting, by Forest artist Tom Cousins, is on the side of the old Help Me Round
The World Pub building on the corner of Staunton Road and Boxbush Road.
It features FW Harvey, Joyce Latham and Dennis Potter.
It celebrates authors from the western side of the Forest and is a companion to a mural in Cinderford which features Winifred Foley, Harry Beddington and Leonard Clark.
The murals have been funded by Reading the Forest which is part of the Heritage Lottery Fund-backed Foresters’ Forest project.
Members of the authors’ families joined Reading the Forest supporters for the launch last Saturday.
Roger Deeks, of Reading the Forest, said: “One of the traits all the authors had in common was their commitment to people and their communities.”
Jason Griffiths, of the University of Gloucestershire, said the authors remained relevant to readers today.
He said: “What these writers do, and why they are super relevant today is they are writing about this place and what makes it so special to us.
“They are absolutely not in the past and now we can’t ignore them because they are two storeys tall on that building.
“It will be a prompt for all us to revisit their work and remind ourselves about this wonderful place.”
The two-storey high mural is on the side of the home of Don and Cath Burgess.
Mr Burgess said it had been used as a backdrop for Cold Lazarus, one of Dennis Potter’s later plays.
He added: “I think it looks fantastic and it is in the perfect position on the main road into Coleford.”