Wolverhampton success in Black Country Tourism Awards

Released: 14 April 2008

Wolverhampton City Council run attractions scooped a host of awards at the Black Country Hotel and Tourism Awards 2008 last Friday night (April 11).

Leading the way was Wolverhampton Arts and Museums, which collected a gold award for its brilliant website and bronze for Wolverhampton Art Gallery in the Large Attraction of the Year category.

And there were celebrations at the Civic Halls, after its website received a silver award and the Little Civic scooped bronze for small Visitor Attraction of the Year.

Judges said the Arts and Museums website was informative and well laid out, has excellent downloadable information and caters for its target markets.

The site, which covers Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Bantock House and Park and Bilston Craft Gallery, was developed by web manager Linda Ellis and multimedia officer John Ranford, who gave the pages their distinctive look. 

Linda, who collected the award at a glittering ceremony held at the Park Hall Hotel, said: “We have been developing and improving the website for the last three years and we are delighted with this award.

”We had a big redesign earlier this year and we are really happy with how it is looking, but websites are always being developed and added to and this one is no different.

“We have tried to ensure it is compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act and so we have things like BSL-signed videos and text readers aimed at people with a visual impairment or dyslexia.

”We have also put on a range of educational materials for teachers and schoolchildren to use while people can download pictures of items in the museums’ collections”, she added.

The website, which also has full details of the many exhibitions and events at the three venues, has proved a hit with users. Visitor numbers have increased dramatically over the last few months – and it seems they are more than happy with what they find.

A teacher said it was packed with “fabulous ideas and I will definitely be using some of the resources”, while another visitor said it was “so easy to read and navigate your way through”.

Another commented: “It’s probably the best website I have used - and I have been using the internet for as long as it has been available.”

Linda added: “We are really pleased with the sort of feedback we are getting – we have even had comments from some national museums telling us how much they like it.”

Judges also praised the Civic Halls website which has rapidly expanded since a major redesign in 2005 to make it more interactive and user friendly.

Manager Mark Blackstock said: “We look at the website as an organic entity that is continually upgraded and adapted to suit purpose and to follow multimedia advances – for example last year we started streaming gigs on line for the first time.

“The website’s design is strongly dictated by its need to deliver a large volume of information in a clear and easy manner, while also offering a ‘shop window’ in which we can showcase the events and the artistes which are coming to Wolverhampton.”

Mark had further reason to celebrate after the Little Civic won bronze in the Small Visitor Attraction of the Year category.

He said: “The Little Civic may be the smallest of the three Civic Halls venues, but it is very much our life-blood as it allows us to introduce a vast number of tomorrow's chart acts to a Wolverhampton audience very early in their career.

“Gigs like the Little Civic prove vital to a new artist's development and help create strong relationships with agents and promoters.

“The result of such strong relations is evident in the excellent quality of programme we are able to assemble here - artists are endeared to Wolverhampton in their early visits and the agents and promoters reward us with bringing the bigger names they represent to our bigger venues”, added Mark.

Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Art Gallery picked up bronze in the Large Attraction of the Year category, and bosses will be keeping their fingers crossed for even more success after the venue was recently shortlisted for this year's Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award and a prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects award for its recently opened extension.

Barbara Kay, the city council’s head of tourism and development, said: “We are delighted to receive these awards and they a credit to all our staff.

“I am also pleased that local hotels also picked up several awards between them, including the Mount Hotel and Conference Centre, Ely House, the York Hotel and the Novotel, which helps to show the quality of service visitors to the city are being offered.”

”We are constantly striving to improve the city for our visitors and the judges’ comments show we are going in the right direction”, she added.

Selected winners:

• Small Visitor Attraction of the Year: The Little Civic (bronze)
• Tourism Website of the Year: Wolverhampton Arts + Museums (gold);Wolverhampton Civic Halls (silver)
  Large Attraction of the Year: Wolverhampton Art Gallery (bronze)
• Business Tourism of the Year: Mount Hotel and Conference Centre (gold)
• Large Hotel of the Year: Mount Hotel and Conference Centre (gold)
• Small Hotel of the Year: Ely House (gold); York Hotel (silver)
• Restaurant Service of the Year: Novotel (bronze)
• Housekeeper of the Year: Novotel (gold)
• Chef of the Year: Sharley Thomas, Novotel (bronze); Jean Bingham, Wightwick Manor (highly commended)
• Tomorrow's Manager of the Year: Hannah Pugh, Novotel (silver)
• Receptionist of the Year: Aishia Ali, Novotel (bronze).

Issued by the press office.