The quirky pink plaques popping up around Plymouth

  • Watch Jacquie Bird's report


When you see a blue plaque in a city, you expect it to commemorate key figures of the past known for incredible and unusual things.

But a new project is aiming to celebrate the ordinary people of Plymouth - by giving them their very own pink plaques.

The new art project will see 150 pink stickers put up around the city to create a tourist trail. The plaques share slightly less significant facts than are usually found on traditional blue plaques - which are normally put up to commemorate historical figures.

The Pink Plaques is the brainchild of artist Kate Entwistle. It started two years ago, when 50 plaques were on display in the centre of Plymouth for just three days.

Kate Entwistle, Artist Credit: ITV News Westcountry

Now as part of the Mayflower 400 commemorations, the project has been expanded and will feature up to 150 plaques across Plymouth and the Barbican for the whole month of July.

Kate said: "I thought, what about the everyday, the mundane, the funny, the things other people remember... If we could all see those, and commemorate those, it's just a bit of light-hearted fun.

"I just wanted to make people laugh and smile on the high street, and I think now, with everyone coming back to the high street, it's a brilliant time as well for that."

Many of the plaques which went up last time will be seen again, including this one from the Final Frontier comic book shop, which celebrates the time Batman came in to browse.

Pink Plaque Credit: ITV News Westcountry
Another of the funny plaques which has been put up.
Journalist Erin's plaque.

Journalist Erin Black's pink plaque is one of those returning for a second time. Her plaque commemorates the time a fortune teller predicted her dead dog would return to her in spirit - despite Erin never owning a pet dog.

"It was just one of those things that I really laughed at for kind of months to come, so when this came up, I thought, 'that is the kind of thing I want to be known for," Erin said.

Another pink plaque is on the side of Andy's Meats, and staff Kevin and Kay both believe the artwork offers a positive contribution to the city.

"It brings everybody together... It is a friendly place, that's why it's the place to be, it's Plymouth," said Kay.

Kate is keen people tell her their memories so they can be immortalised in pink. You can sent them to pinkplaques@yahoo.com.


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