If you wander down Gosport High Street today, you’ll notice something quietly magical. Bright Lego‑style mosaics tucked into corners of cafés, perched on museum walls, or greeting you near the ferry. They’re playful, colourful, and if you look closer, they’re deeply rooted in the town’s history.

This is the Bricksy Trail: a first‑of‑its‑kind accessible heritage route created not by a tourism board or a corporate sponsor, but by a small Gosport charity and one woman whose curiosity, creativity and commitment to young people helped bring it to life.

That woman is Mary, volunteer Chair of Trustees at Level Up Gosport, and the kind of person who can turn a spark of an idea into a community legacy.

“I’m a bit of a geek… I love Lego, especially Star Wars Lego.” Mary laughs as she says it, but it’s exactly that spark of geeky curiosity that started everything.

Mary first spotted the mosaics dotted on buildings around Gosport. “I kept seeing them and thought, what’s going on here? So I found the artist, Bricksy, on social media and asked if he’d meet me for a coffee.”

That coffee turned into a collaboration. A heritage grant opportunity soon appeared. And Mary, who has spent her entire working life helping people and fixing broken systems, knew exactly what to do next.

 From youth work to charity leadership

Mary’s career reads like a quiet masterclass in community transformation. It begins with a decade as deputy manager of a neighbourhood project, working with people aged three to 103 and shaping services to meet their needs. “I loved that job,” she says. “It was all about helping people live the lives they wanted, no matter their age or ability.”

From there, she stepped into a struggling Hampshire youth project and rebuilt it from the inside out, securing fresh funding and bringing young people back into the heart of the programme. “It just wasn’t fit for purpose when I arrived,” she recalls. “So, I got the funding in, got young people involved again, and turned it into something they could actually use and be proud of.”

Her work with young people continued in Portsmouth, where she ran the city’s youth scheme and once again found herself responsible for bringing in the funding that kept opportunities alive. “I’ve always been the one writing the bids,” she laughs. “If there’s a pot of money out there, I’ll find it.”

Later, as Grant Manager at Gosport Voluntary Action, she became the person organisations turned to when they needed expertise, structure and a steady hand. Therefore, it was no surprise that when the group then known as Loud and Proud wanted to become a fully-fledged charity, they approached Mary. “They asked if I’d become Chair and help them get charitable status,” she says. “So I did, and we got it. Then we reshaped everything into what is now Level Up Gosport.”

Today, she volunteers full‑time hours as Chair of Trustees, writing grants, building partnerships and creating opportunities for neurodiverse young people and those with mental health challenges. “Everything we do is young‑people‑led,” she says. “They approve it all. They’re the reason we exist.”

The birth of the Bricksy Trail

It was a bold idea: could modern street mosaics become a new kind of heritage trail? One that celebrates local stories, draws families into the high street, and is fully accessible to everyone?

As always, she took it to the young people first. “Everything we do is young‑people‑led,” she says. “I asked them what they thought, and they absolutely loved it. That was it. I knew we had to make it happen.”

So she wrote the grant. And what emerged is something Gosport has never seen before.

The Bricksy Trail now features 26 mosaics, each linked to a letter of the alphabet. Visitors can scan QR codes for audio descriptions, building histories and directions to the next stop. For those who prefer not to use smartphones, there’s a printed booklet, and not just any booklet. It includes touchable braille maps, braille lettering, and a design that allows sight‑impaired visitors to follow the route with their fingertips.

“We wanted it to be genuinely accessible,” Mary says. “Not just a token gesture. Something everyone could enjoy.”

She’s right to be proud: it’s the first trail of its kind anywhere in the UK.

To create the braille elements, Mary reached out to Clarke Reynolds (Mr Dot), the UK’s leading braille artist and a friend of Bricksy “I just messaged him and said, ‘We want to do this properly, can you help?’” she recalls. Clarke worked alongside a Gosport digital artist to design the tactile features, and together they built something entirely new. The whole project took around six months.

“It’s colourful, it’s joyful, it’s inclusive,” Mary says. “And it belongs to Gosport. That’s what makes it special.”

To understand the Bricksy Trail, you have to understand the man behind the mosaics. Bricksy, a former veteran, began creating the pieces during a difficult period after leaving the forces. What started as a personal outlet slowly became a gift to the town.

“He told me he just wanted to bring a bit of colour back into his life,” Mary says, “and in doing that, he brought colour back into Gosport too.”

His mosaics aren’t random splashes of creativity, they’re tiny, joyful memorials to the town’s stories and the people who shaped them.

One of the most loved is Tilly the Cat, a local celebrity who wandered into shops, the library, even the police station. “Everyone knew Tilly,” Mary smiles. “She’d sit on benches, stroll into the town hall… she was part of the place.” After Tilly was killed in a road accident, the community raised money for a memorial. Bricksy chose to honour her in his own way, creating a mosaic exactly where she used to sit. “People still stop and smile when they see it,” Mary says. “It’s like she’s still keeping an eye on the town.”

Another mosaic pays tribute to the Yellow Canaries, which are the women of Priddy’s Hard whose hair turned bright yellow from the explosive dust they worked with. Many later died from exposure. “Their story is heartbreaking,” Mary says softly. “But it’s part of Gosport’s history, and it deserves to be remembered.”

Other mosaics celebrate buildings, hidden histories and the everyday life of a town that is often overlooked. “That’s what I love about Bricksy work,” Mary says. “It’s joyful, but it’s meaningful too. Every piece has a story.”

 “We’ve created a legacy for Gosport.”

For Mary, the trail is more than art. It’s belonging. It’s pride. It’s visibility for a town that’s too often forgotten.

And it’s a chance for young people to lead something meaningful.

“What I love most,” she says, “is seeing young people progress, moving into employment, becoming independent. That’s what keeps me volunteering.”

When she’s not writing grants or building partnerships, Mary is happiest reading, walking her dog, creating Star Wars Lego designs, or being involved with Gosport Steampunk Society.

But the Bricksy Trail is something she’ll always carry with her.

“It’s colourful, it’s joyful, it’s inclusive. And it’s ours. We just need to tell people about it now.”

Want to Explore the Bricksy Trail?

“The Trail begins at the mosaic known as Mr Dot, tucked at the end of Wises Alley on the right‑hand side of the High Street as you walk up from the ferry,” says Mary. “It’s only a few steps from YourSpace, where visitors can pick up a free printed booklet,  at least for now, as we plan to introduce a £1 cover price in the future.”

Mary says that booklets are also available at Gosport Museum & Art Gallery. “For anyone starting at the Discovery Centre,” she explains, “staff will direct people to the website first, as that’s where the audio descriptions live, and if someone doesn’t have a smartphone, they’ll point them towards YourSpace or GMAG for a physical copy.”

For more information please visit: www.thebricksytrail.co.uk

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