Artist Anthony Turk on Pink Eye mural's 20th birthday

It was on Walking Day in 1999 when artist Anthony Turk picked up his paint gun and headed down to the old Fairclough Mill in Sankey Bridges.

Over the next two weeks, he painted a giant mural on the side of the 110ft high former flour mill on Athertons Quay – depicting an eye shedding one solitary tear.

In doing so, he spawned not only a landmark building in the town but also a unique new phrase for every Warringtonian’s lexicon – the Pink Eye roundabout.

Anthony Turk painting a copy of his Pink Eye mural 20 years on

Initially Anthony, from Old Hall, had intended to create something wholly different – an ‘under the sea’ whale mural, similar to one which he had created at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School in Bewsey.

But a lengthy battle with the council over planning permission bred the design as we know it today.

Now aged 57, Anthony has reflected on how the great monolith came to be.

There was only one building which was crying out for a mural, and that was the old Fairclough Mill.

At the time, no one took one bit of notice of a concrete structure which was just there standing in the background.

Fairclough Mill before it was painted

I had previously painted a mural for my old junior school at St Alban’s and was pleased with the outcome, so l was looking for a larger canvas.

There it was, standing and waiting.

The building stands on the banks of Mersey, and was perfect for an environmental mural.

If you go back 20 years, there was not much of an appetite for this.

To my mind, it only could have been positive – a free mural, not like other council projects like the Skittles which cost thousands and for which hardly any of the work was done by local people.

Anthony in his studio

When we sleep our brain processes information about what you experience in the waking state, so all the negativity that l experienced regarding the planning application was milling around my mind and manifested itself in my dream-state.

I had no conscious intention of painting an eye with a tear – it was fed to me through what l experienced.

The colour pink was not chosen by me, it was the owner of the building – it could have been a black eye.

I started painting on Walking Day 1999 and it took around 13 days, if I remember rightly.

Every day was blue sky with not a breath of wind.

I’m not a religious person, but l experienced a spiritual moment – as l was finishing off the tear, it started to rain.

Looking up from underneath the mural there was a massive eye crying, and l had an overwhelming sense of relief.

It could have rained every day and made the task a whole lot harder, but l think mother nature sent a signal of rain to say ‘you have finished’.

The plan was to paint an environmental mural, but we ended up with a giant pink eye crying.

Twenty years have passed and the environmental issues are getting to a critical point.

I just look and think what could have been.

You only can do your best and at the time l think l did.

l still think of what happened on my first day of painting as if it was yesterday.

There was a wonderful feeling as the power climber went higher and higher under the full beam of the sun, and with a cool breeze on my face.

It was at this point which l began to relax.

Below, the Mersey seemed to open up and come alive.

It twisted like a giant green and blue snake, glistening and gliding through the industrial landscape – dodging and weaving until it disappeared with birds skimming the river in poetic dance.

I felt excited and sad at the same time – if only l could have painted what l really wanted.

I had no idea how long it would be there – whether it was a week or 20 years.

I hear the name the Pink Eye all the time on the radio, in directions and even on videos.

People live busy lives and they don’t look underneath the meaning of the Pink Eye, but if they did they would view it differently.

The Pink Eye is one person’s heart and soul painted on a wall.

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Towns and cities need something to set them aside from the rest, and even better if there is an interesting story behind it.

It’s more poignant with global warming and climate change becoming a real danger.

Whether it’s a town or a city, it needs stories to tell of local people who live there and their contributions.

This is what makes society tick.

If it was painted over tomorrow, l think Warrington as a town would lose something.

It’s not beautiful, but the visual message is so important and it makes people think.

After all, that’s what art is.

It wasn’t generated in Banksy’s studio – it was anarchic spontaneity which came about through the situation at the time.