Local Photographers Smarten Up Shop

Recently there has been a number of empty shops up and down the country. I was walking through Walsall one day and thought, wouldn’t it be great to showcase some photos from local people in those empty shop windows, while simultaneously brightening up the town a little bit?

Well that’s what Walsall council have just done, with superb results. Dan Slee from the Council fielded for photo submissions of the town, taken by local people on the Walsall Flickr group’s discussion board. You can see the discussion on the Walsall flickr group. The submissions were passed onto a team of graphic designers at the Council and a site was chosen.

Dan describes on his blog – “Bright, creative people of Walsall have a chance to celebrate their work and their town.”

Old Square Tesco at The Bridge
The chosen site was the old Tesco store close to the heart of the town centre at The Bridge. Until a new tenant moves in, the Old Square Shopping Centre has a few empty windows.

The vibrant display now showcases images from local flickr members as well as welcoming visitors to the town and providing information about what’s in the town, such as the Gallery, Markets and the Arboretum, which is undergoing its own regeneration at the moment.

Big Society in Action?
I reckon this is a good poster child for the big society in Walsall. I for one can’t cut a blade of grass to save my life, but we do have other things we can bring to the town. This looks like it could be the start of something within the town centre as we all pick up the pieces of the downturn, take some pride in where we live and look forward to a brighter future. It feels like there is a resumption in the regeneration of Walsall Town Centre and as the new moves towards the Wharf, it would be nice to not let the older parts of town fall into neglect.

Collaboration between the authorities and the community to create something of value, surely must be applauded all round and this is a great thing that the council and local photographers have done for everyone in the community. Well done guys!

Posted on Thursday, October 20th, 2011