Award winning cartoonist creates 9ft mural for Exeter care home residents

Cartoonist Tony Husband has created a 9ft mural for residents at RMBI Home Cadogan Court in Exeter.

Well known for his cartoons in newspapers and magazines including Private Eye, Punch and The Times, Tony visited the Home on Thursday 10 May with dementia activist Gina Awad who supported the event. He spent the day drawing different focal points with the help of residents, which he later created into a large mural in the Home’s reception.

Gina gathered residents’ stories which inspired Tony to create personalised portraits for residents to have as keepsakes. Tony said:  “It was wonderful working alongside Gina who has a natural ability to connect with people; it enabled me to focus on my artwork and engage with residents. We had a memorable day and hope this is the first of many for us.”

The event was organised as part of a week’s festivities leading up to the Royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Residents also enjoyed a traditional fish and chip lunch, pamper sessions, cream tea and entertainment by a harpist.

Home Manager, Deidre Johnson said: “We were all really excited to meet Tony and see his work in action. He spent the day meeting residents and gave personal signed pictures. The day was filled with creative activities focusing on all the different senses from cream tea to pottery and musical entertainment.”

Gina Awad who leads the Exeter Dementia Alliance, said: “I met Tony a couple of years ago at a talk for his book ‘Take Care Son: My Dad living with Dementia.’ At the time we had a sense we could work well together with our shared passion for dementia. We thoroughly enjoyed the day at Cadogan Court, hearing heartfelt stories from residents and witnessing such caring staff.”