One of Dumbarton's oldest buildings has been given a welcome makeover with the front of the building covered with two eye catching banners celebrating the town's proud past and inspiring future.

The Old Academy Building in Church Street is used as the backdrop to display the huge 31' by 22' banners which were designed using ideas from the Dumbarton Town Centre Forum and S3 Art pupils from Dumbarton Academy.

The Proud Past banner shows key buildings in Dumbarton and the year they were constructed, starting with Dumbarton Castle in 1220. It also displays an historic photograph of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Inspiring Future banner, portrays Dumbarton as a modern town and focuses on leisure, tourism and transport.

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Pupils were asked for their vision for the future of Dumbarton and what facilities they would like to see introduced in the next 10 to 15 years. The creative students suggestions included building a concert venue and theme park to attract tourists to the area, having better transport links and capitalising on Dumbarton Castle by building a visitors centre.

Cllr David McBride, Convener of Housing, Environmental and Economic Development, said: "We want to do everything we can to make our town centre attractive to residents and visitors and encourage more people to shop locally. The banners greatly improve the appearance of the building which was badly damaged by fire in 1976 and make the entrance to the High Street more inviting."

(CD)