Watch: Shrewsbury skatepark painting project turns offensive graffiti tags into works of art

That's because the youths in question were Year 9 pupils at the Priory School in Shrewsbury who were spending the start of their Easter holiday tidying the area up.

They used spray paint to cover up swear words and names of drugs scrawled on the skate park off Shorncliffe Drive in Bowbrook after saying they had been getting fed up of seeing the distasteful art.

They had jumped at the chance to make a difference after being approached by Gillian Denning, education and enforcement officer for Shropshire Council. She spoke to the seven pupils at the skate park and asked if they would be happy to help her do something, they then held a meeting at the school took it from there.

They got permission from Shrewsbury Town Council and yesterday they started the clean up operation.

"The kids have been fantastic, they worked really hard to make this happen," said Mrs Denning.

"They were shown how to use the spray paint safely, given the right equipment and after a quick tutorial they were off.

"It took us four hours to complete the clear up, but it looks so much better and we just hope the vandals don't ruin it."

To cover up the graffiti the pupils worked with Neil Willis from A Unique Art, who showed them how to turn the tags into works of art.

They used bright colours and Disney Pixar's Monsters Inc as inspiration.

"It looks fab now, a lot more family friendly now and the seven boys from the Priory School were brilliant," said Mrs Denning.