TWO nursery nurses impressed their boss when they painted murals for the youngsters in their care.

Stan Henry, who runs the Ashfield Nursery and Early Learning Centre, in Low Fell, Gateshead, liked the artwork so much, he asked them to paint murals at his new nursery, in South Shields.

Neither Kyra McKenry, of Chester-le-Street, nor Sharon Gray, of Low Fell, have any formal art training but volunteered to produce the murals for the Low Fell nursery in their spare time.

Mrs Gray, 28, said: "We both enjoy drawing and we devised imaginary characters and scenes likely to interest and amuse the children.

Mrs McKenry, also 28, said: "It took us several weeks to complete the murals but it was an enjoyable labour of love.

"We are pleased with the finished result, but we were surprising to be offered a commission to do a similar job at South Shields.''

Mr Henry said: "It is hard to believe they are untrained artists. When I saw the murals for the first time I had no hesitation in offering a commission to repeat the exercise at my new nursery.'