PAINTING BIG JUNE

How It Happened

At the time, I was involved on the fringes of planning for Pride Wrecsam through a community crafting initiative I’d set up a few years previously, Craft Connect Wrecsam. We were running a series of community crafting workshops to create decorations for Wrecsam Pride 2025. One of the conversations we’d had was around celebrating and making visible LGBTQ+ representation and culture in Wrecsam.

Inevitably, the name Big June was mentioned.

Inevitably, the name Big June was mentioned.

She was such an unforgettable local character, known to so many people across Wrecsam. A number of ideas were discussed, and I was asked if I’d be able to paint a mural of June if Pride Wrecsam could raise the funds to do so. I said yes, of course. They applied for funding, but were unsuccessful.

I think the Pride Wrecsam team more or less shelved the idea after that, as they were busy planning the 2025 Wrecsam Pride event . But I could see that they were disappointed that it couldn’t go ahead – and as is often the case with certain ideas, this one just kept ticking away in my head.

When something feels like doing anyway

I thought to myself: what can I do here to make this happen, even in some small capacity? We may not be able to finance a full mural – but what could we do instead?

That’s when I had an idea.

I decided to walk into The Long Pull and ask to speak with the managers. So that’s exactly what I did. I put the idea to them – would they be up for me spray painting Big June onto the exterior wall of the pub? They loved the idea and said yes straight away.

June used to drink in The Long Pull. Well, she used to drink in a lot of places – but The Long Pull was one of her favourite haunts. So it felt fitting that she’d be remembered there.

The Long Pull is a Wrexham institution, and I was going to say that it’s very LGBTQ- friendly, which it is. But most of all it’s EVERYONE-friendly. It’s inclusive, and lively, and welcoming, and down to earth, and unapologetically itself (just like June herself was) – and very, very Wrexham. Every year since Wrexham Pride started in 2024 it has hosted the official Wrexham Pride after party, and the managers and staff go to such an effort decorating it every year.  They also knew June. She was a regular, and the current managers, and some of the staff, and many of the current regulars remember her well, and with great fondness.

The managers had to ask the brewery for permission, of course. The answer was yes – but with one condition: it would have to be painted over afterwards as it could only be included as part of the Pride decorations. We figured that this was better than not doing it at all, and that at least they’d said yes, which we were grateful for, as they could have said no and then it wouldn’t have happened at all.

Giving What I can

I like to be transparent about the practical side of painting on walls and making a living as a working artist. Being an artist is my vocation – but it’s also my job. It’s how I pay my bills and put food on the table. It isn’t a hobby, or a side hustle. Like many artists, I have several income streams within the creative industries, and together they make up my full-time work. I don’t work for free. Would you? I wouldn’t expect a plumber to fix something in my house for nothing, so it always surprises me when people assume murals might be done that way. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, the answer is always a clear sorry, but no – that’s not the way it works.

However, when I painted June on the side of The Long Pull no money changed hands. Why is this? It’s partly because I approached The Long Pull with the idea myself. I was doing it off duty, and I chose to self-fund it as a gift to Wrexham Pride. A bit like how some people work all week in their day job and then freely give a couple of hours of their time as a volunteer for a local charity or good cause on a weekend. The thing is, I’m not rich – very few artists are, apart from the very famous ones, or the ones born into fortunate circumstances – and I can’t donate large sums of money to charity. But occasionally, and very intentionally, I choose to support a cause I believe in by offering my skillset instead. I do that rarely, and entirely at my own discretion. And that’s what I decided to do here – for June, for The Long Pull as a local business, and for the hardworking team behind Wrexham Pride.   

Banksy’s been to Wrexham!
Originally, I wanted there to be an element of surprise.

I thought it would be interesting to spray paint June onto the wall in the dead of night on the eve of Wrexham Pride. The Pride parade passes The Long Pull on Saturday morning. I imagined people waking up on the morning of Wrexham Pride to find her there – larger than life, up front and unapologetic in her Big June-ness – and the impact that could have. I was feeling a little playful too – I wondered if local social media might think Banksy had been to Wrexham, and I could visualise the ensuing heated debates on Wrexham Town Matters and Wrexham.Com (if you know you know). Hell, it might even make national news (my mind was off on one at this point).

Remembering What June Looked Like

The next challenge was finding images of June to work from.

Everyone knew what she looked like. She rocked quite a look – the beehive, the red headscarf, the costume jewellery, the heels . . . she was glamourous in her heyday, and as my nan would have said, June was always ‘well turned out’. And she towered over everyone of course, she was larger than life – hence the moniker ‘Big June’. I’ve often wondered if she liked being called that, and sometimes I just call her June in conversation, because that was her name – the ‘Big’ was no doubt put there by others, but it’s the name for which she’ll forever be known in Wrecsam.

Decent photos of her were surprisingly hard to come by. I managed to find a couple of videos online and went through them frame by frame, freezing and screenshotting as I went. Eventually I narrowed it down to one image that I thought would work in the context of where it would sit, on the exterior wall of The Long Pull.

Larger Than Life

Then came the challenge of translating that into a stencil large enough for the wall. June was tall in real life, so she had to be larger than life on the wall too. This wasn’t going to be small.

After a lot of trial and error, the stencil was finally ready. I researched the best spray paints, ordered supplies from a street art company in South Wales, and did a trial run at home on a huge piece of cardboard.

Then I started watching the weather.

Best Laid Plans

We were in the middle of a heatwave, so I didn’t expect any issues. The day I’d planned to do it was scorching hot. But at around 5pm I checked the forecast – rain predicted in the early hours. Exactly when I’d planned to paint.

So plans had to change quickly.

Friday Night Down The Long Pull  

Instead of sneaking around at night, I found myself setting up outside The Long Pull at the start of the weekend on a hot summer evening – in broad daylight – with an audience of regulars and curious onlookers from the wine bar across the road.

Was it nerve-wracking? Yes. A bit.

It took around an hour and a half. A lot of that time was spent positioning the stencil and masking off surrounding areas – I’d already done several site visits to scope out the best spot. Once you factor in windows, street lamps, noticeboards and bins, there weren’t many options.

But I just got on with it, because this wasn’t going to paint itself. (Short vid below – dropbox link)

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Thankfully there was a suitable space near the main entrance, though it was a tight fit.

As soon as I started spraying, the filming started. I knew then that my anonymous ‘Banksy in Wrexham’ idea was gone, this’d be all over social media in seconds, and it was. I hadn’t planned to sign it either – it hadn’t occurred to me to do so because the original plan had been for anonymity in any case. I only added a small signature because a staff member really encouraged me to do it, and it was clear that this was already all over social media anyway. Even now that signature is barely visible underneath the painting, and most people probably don’t even see it. I wasn’t very active on social media at the time either, so I totally missed it blowing up on there, although people kept excitedly telling me that this was the case, and responding incredulously when I said I wasn’t really on social media much at the moment, as if I must be mad.   

Why Pride Morning Mattered

I specifically wanted June there on the morning of Wrexham Pride.

While she was fondly remembered by many, she was also subjected to years of verbal abuse and ridicule. She stood out – how could she not, all six foot+ of her, in all her bee-hived splendour  – in a small North Welsh town, especially before the birth of the internet, when diversity and inclusion probably weren’t even words you’d hear in the average working class market town. Yet she always had the courage to be unapologetically and authentically herself. Huge respect for that, it must have been far from easy for her – yet the alternative – not being herself- was clearly too high a personal price to pay. A story familiar to many in the LGBTQ+ community.

June at Wrexham Pride

I’ve been careful not to label June or assume how she would have identified. That isn’t my place, and sadly she passed away in 2017, so I can’t ask her.

But I hope she would have loved Wrexham Pride. She certainly would have enjoyed the after party at The Long Pull, where anyone was welcome, and everyone had a great time.

I took a photo of June, on the wall, at the Wrexham Pride 2025 afterparty. It was dark outside, but The Long Pull was lit up for the evening and wearing its party clothes, Pride flags dropped from the upstairs windows. Inside the party was in full swing, with music and people spilling out onto the pavements for the occasional ciggy. While this was all going on I took a photo of June on the wall. It’s one of my favourites. It looks like she’s looking down over everything happening below, and I like to think she was there in spirit –  and that she’d have been happy, holding court in there, and that she would have approved. Most of all I like to think that she’d have felt a sense of belonging, acceptance and inclusion – one thing I do know for sure is that she’d have had a great time in there! Life and soul of the party was a mantle she wore like she was born to it. Which of course is exactly how it was.   

The Stories That Surfaced

The lasting legacy of this piece is the conversations it has sparked.

From the moment I lifted the first can of spray paint, people started sharing their stories of June with me. Once it hit social media, even more stories came flooding in.

What struck me most was that alongside the lovely memories, some people also acknowledged the truth – that many were cruel to her during her lifetime.

What I Hoped People Might Think About

That’s when I thought: yes. This has done what I hoped it would. Yes, it celebrated June, and  her courage to be authentically and unapologetically herself – yet it also seemed to be prompting people to think about how June had been treated locally, and it wasn’t a big jump from there to consider how  LGBTQ+ people in Wrecsam are treated today. There was an opportunity there, on the morning of Wrexham Pride 2025, to reflect upon this. A particularly urgent question at a time when the political climate is becoming increasingly challenging for anyone who is from the LGBTQ+ community.

More than I Expected . . . and the Brewery U Turn

The response to the artwork completely blew me away. I genuinely hadn’t expected it. I just wanted to do something supportive for Wrexham Pride committee, who work extremely hard in the run up to the event, and to commemorate June’s memory.

Once it became clear how many people loved it, the brewery agreed that it could stay for the foreseeable. The Wrexham Public Art Trail included it on their website and on their map. There was, and continues to be, a steady flow of visitors who take selfies with June. The Long Pull reported an increase in business because of it. If ever there was an advertisement for demonstrating how public art can benefit the local economy at grass roots level then there it is, right there. Worth bearing in mind when the usual suspects start decrying how public art is a waste of money, of no real benefit to the people who live here. This is clearly not the case.  

Stories of June

The stories that emerged were one of the most meaningful parts of this whole process for me. I wish I’d recorded them – the ones shared in person while I painted, and the ones shared online too. In the following weeks I started thinking about how these memories could be saved and recorded, so that they don’t disappear into the ethers of time with the people telling them.

I have a plan to collate those stories and create a QR code to add to the piece. As it’s now part of the Wrexham public art trail, I’d love people to be able to scan and hear stories about June, told by local people.

That’s in the pipeline, and I hope to have it sorted soon.

What June Set in Motion

I also have a lot to thank June for.

Before this, I hadn’t really thought about painting on walls. I found it by accident. But now I love it, and quite frankly no wall in Wrexham is safe since I discovered this love for daubing on them : )

Moving Forward

Since then, I’ve painted a tribute to Florence Hardman of Wrexham Town Matters fame (if you know you know) on the exterior wall of Hale’s Jewellers on Bank Street. I’ve painted four greyhounds on the wall of The Greyhound Inn in Rhosnesni (check out the accompanying QR code too if you see those). I’ve also completed three murals in Overton Arcade inspired by Wrexham phrases and sayings, as part of Phase 2 of The Wrexham Public Art trail. I’ve got other plans in the pipeline too, currently awaiting the green light so that they can go ahead. Through June I found a way of working that is rich in meaning for me and that, in layman’s terms, I just love – and it’s one that I hope to continue with going forwards.