'Welcome to Whitmore Reans' signs unveiled
A community group says it hopes new welcome signs will help with improving the image of a Black Country area.
Members of Whitmore Reans Connect were joined by Wolverhampton Council officials and well-wishers at the Avion Centre in Whitmore Reans for the official unveiling of two new street welcome signs.
The signs, which appear at the two road entrances to the shopping area, say "Welcome to Whitmore Reans" and feature art work by children for a number of local schools.
Councillors Roger Lawrence and Lynne Moran attended the unveiling, along with members of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Academy, one of the three schools chosen to produce the signs.
There will be four signs in total, with further signs being erected on Hordern Road and Dunstall Road.
It marked the end of a three-year project, which started in October 2017 with the art project, then a two-year planning process to get permission to put up the signs.
Whitmore Reans Connect secretary Steve Downs has been part of the project from the start and said it was the end of a long journey.
The 61-year-old from Chapel Ash said: "It's lovely to see the culmination of work by the likes of Manda Yates and Sian McFarlane, who worked with the schools to create the artwork, come together.
"We've overcome a lot of hurdles to get here, but we've now achieved what we set out to do and we're hoping it will make people feel better about the area.
"We wanted to bring out the positives of the area as it has been tarnished over the years and we want to show it has a lot to offer."
Whitmore Reans Connect chairman Peter Holmes MBE said the area was a multi-cultural one, with more than 60 languages spoken, and the signs would help bring people in.
The 88-year-old said: "I think the signs are magnificent and a testament to the hard work by the children who created them.
"This is a developing area which has a peculiar reputation, but we know it is a developing and welcoming place and these signs will help show that."
