Ron Gittins spent years transforming his Wirral home into a unique work of art, without anyone knowing.
However, his hard work was only discovered after his death. When his niece Jan Williams entered the Oxton semi-detached house she found he had painted murals inspired by Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt on the walls, floors and ceiling, and had built gigantic fireplaces in the shape of a lion and a bull.
His other creations included a life-size papier mache model of Egyptian queen Cleopatra, a series of papier mache heads and cardboard Roman armour. An artist herself, Jan was determined to preserve her Uncle Ron's work and open it as a space to inspire others.
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Among the patrons is former Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker, who will be appearing at the Liverpool Playhouse for a Q&A night in order to raise money for Ron's Place. All proceeds from the show will be going towards the distinct venue in order to protect its future.
Jarvis said: “I think that’s one of the things that attracts me to outsider art: you feel like you’re seeing art in a purer, more primal form. An environment takes it to a different level. There’s a complete, 100% commitment to whatever vision they’ve got, because they’re sleeping it; they’re eating in it. And that’s quite a thing to behold.”
“With environments like these, you get a complete work of art that somebody is living in and that they’ve established the rules. It’s like a personal universe”.
Ron died in September 2019, a month away from his 80th birthday. Although he had always displayed unusual behaviour, he had become more eccentric in his later years.
He was a familiar sight in Oxton Village, where he would walk along the streets dressed in a series of homemade military costumes, pushing an old-fashioned pram filled with the bags of cement he used to build his enormous fireplaces.
Ron's sister Pat Williams told the ECHO in January 2020 : "When we first went inside (the flat) after he died I had the shock of my life because it was absolutely full of all sorts of stuff. How he coped in there I just don't know.
"I don't appreciate all his art but what he's done is incredible. The fireplaces are extraordinary."
A boy soprano who later became a Buddy Holly impersonator, Ron showed promise as an artist from an early age and studied at the Laird School of Art in Birkenhead. He was a powerful orator and could quote scenes from Shakespeare in a manner that would, Pat says, "give Richard Burton or Laurence Olivier a run for their money". And although he was involved in various local acting groups, she says he didn't like to take direction.
Pat, who is a former Wirral Mayor and was a Liberal Democrat councillor until she retired from politics at the age of 79, said: "As a child he was hyperactive and very creative. When he was a boy he used to make little soldiers out of plasticine that were from all types of regiments and countries. The details in the uniforms were incredible.
"He used to get into trouble in school for attention seeking and being what was thought to be mischievous and a little bit naughty but I think he was just bored a lot of the time. "Today he would be diagnosed on the autism spectrum, I'm sure of it, and be treated with much more acceptance."
A month away from his 80th birthday when he died, Ron always displayed unusual behaviour but became more eccentric in his later years, turning up to Pat's 80th birthday in a thick coat, wellies, a wig and a hat "in case his head got cold".
Sometimes, instead of transporting materials for use in his art, he would take another of his creations out for a stroll - a life-sized papier mache model of Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Surely rather more buxom than the original, she now sits in his kitchen next to a large portrait of Greek goddess Athena and an old microwave, oblivious to the loss of her companion.
After his death, a local family who were fond of her brother told Pat they used to shout "Ron alert" if they spotted him through the window before rushing to see what costume he was wearing. Instead of flowers on his coffin, his sister placed two of his hats and a wig in a gesture she thought he would have enjoyed.
Ron rarely invited visitors into his home. Jan knows of only a few people who had stepped inside in the years before his death. She believes this is partly because he was house-proud and didn't want friends or family to see how dilapidated his flat had become.
Through Ron's eyes, the piles of what most of us would consider to be fit only for a skip were a treasure trove of art materials. He kept things, not for the sake of it, but because he could find a use for them in his creations.
Among the mountain of rubbish in the living room found during our 2020 visit was the skeleton of a pram, an Argos catalogue, the side of a ceramic bath, an empty two-litre pop bottle and a tiny pencil sketch of a mounted soldier. In the back room, beneath murals of Napoleon, Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton, the array of objects included a Singer sewing machine, a photo of the Queen on horseback, an Airfix model kit of the German battleship Bismarck and a bag of marbles.
In the bathroom cabinet - a packet of tooth powder and a box of lawn feed. In the other front room - a collection of homemade breast plates, a wardrobe full of military jackets and other costumes, and an almost pristine phone book from June 1999.
The eccentric home is under threat though. Sadly, after Ron's death, the landlord immediately began to destroy the external sculptures. Due to this, a crowdfunder campaign began to save the interior from a magnolia-make-over.
Jarvis Cocker joined the battle and the money raised was used to continue paying Ron’s rent and bills over the last 18 months. The goal is to create a space that encourages and celebrates the creativity of untrained makers, where Ron’s Place forms part of a wider scheme that emphasises and facilitates the benefits of creativity to health and wellbeing, particularly amongst neuro-diverse people.
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