A MURAL has appeared on the side of a pub near Poole Quay in support of injured speedway rider Darcy Ward.

The Cockleshell pub, on Lagland Street, has been decorated with a picture of Darcy Ward's bike and #DW43 and #Getwelldarcy, the hashtags which have been shared on social media following the news of his serious accident in Poland back in August.

It was created, with the permission of the owner of the pub's freehold, Geoff Thompson, by an urban street artist who works under the name of Freerunner. He was assisted from the start of his idea to its installation by the Poole Pirates team boss, Neil Middleditch.

Freerunner said: "I had heard of Darcy and the accident, which is a tragic story. The painting's strapline is 'Pirate down but not out' because through this time, Darcy is not giving up. We all hope that he will ride again.

"The whole point was to raise awareness of Darcy Ward and to give some money to his fundraising. It's there as a piece of art with a message, which is 'get well Darcy'.

"It was all drawn by me and the bike was spray painted on, with the details drawn in and then the orange colour is actually the tyre marks from a speedway bike."

He said that in total it took around three weeks to create on the wood panels, which were then installed on the pub's outside wall, after asking Geoff Thompson's permission. Screen prints are set to be created in the next few weeks of the mural which will be available for speedway fans to purchase.

"I said that as the pub is in Poole and the Poole Pirates are part of the town we should do something for Darcy. It was good of him to let me use the wall.

"I would like to think that the people of Poole will treat it as theirs."

Neil Middleditch of the Poole Pirates said: "It is another show of emotion for Darcy. It's quite touching, really. The artist came round to ask if he could do this and I spoke to Darcy about it and he was quite happy about it. So we took Darcy's bike over to him to look at and then he came back with the finished design.

"It's quite sad what has happened to Darcy but Poole speedway is a big part of Poole and its history so it is nice to see."