Shrewsbury's 'Sign Guy' gets a helping hand to clean up hospice shop
A Shropshire man who’s been nicknamed "The Sign Guy" after single-handedly cleaning up the county's road signs, has had a helping hand as he took on a mucky wall to a charity shop.
John Edwards, a retired aerospace worker from Belle Vue, Shrewsbury, began his cleaning mission with the old ‘Welcome to Shrewsbury, a medieval town’ sign on London Road, just off Emstrey roundabout, in March, 2024.
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He has since added bridges and unloved and derelict buildings to his targets. After reaching 729, he stopped counting the number of signs and buildings he had cleaned up, but he retains a passion for tidying up unloved and uncared-for places across Shropshire, Powys and Worcestershire.
From Chirk to Tenbury Wells and from Llanymynech to Bridgnorth, John has been busy cleaning up and has no intention of stopping.
He recently turned his attention to the Severn Hospice Superstore in Beacall’s Lane, Shrewsbury, after being informed about offensive graffiti on a wall.
The building is adjacent to Morris Lubricants’ factory, where they have been manufacturing quality oils and lubricants on-site since 1927. As one of Shrewsbury’s oldest companies – originally founded in 1869 – the company felt it was important to lend a hand to this fantastic community project.
So, to help, Morris Lubricants paid for the cleaning equipment and a handful of employees, including Liam Caswell and Richard Edwards from the production team, were among the other generous volunteers who helped John with his latest project.
Paintwell Ltd donated the paint and the clean-up operation was completed, despite rain showers.
“Once you have the right equipment and cleaning materials, it’s not hard to remove graffiti and I find it very enjoyable,” said John. “It was absolutely great to have the men from Morris Lubricants with us to clean and repaint the wall at the Severn Hospice Superstore.
“They stripped the whole of one wall while the rest of us got stuck into cleaning the graffiti and overpainting. It’s good fun getting people together.
“I clean a lot of signs, but the buildings I do are the unloved and derelict. I find that when a place is cleaned up, nine times out of 10, it won’t get tagged again (targeted by graffiti sprayers).
“I make a point of not touching picturesque graffiti and I think the taggers appreciate that, although they do occasionally leave me messages, like ‘You can’t keep up, John!’. That one was on the fire escape door at Shrewsbury Cinema.”
Andrew Goddard, Morris Lubricants’ executive chairman, said: “John is becoming a legend in Shropshire and should be applauded for the fantastic work he is doing around Shrewsbury.
“At Morris Lubricants, we feel it is important to support the local community, so we were more than happy to offer our support and help him to clean the wall.”
In recognition of his community work, John has received awards from Shropshire’s High Sheriff and Shrewsbury Mayor.
He began his clean-up mission by clearing undergrowth from the ‘Welcome to Shrewsbury, a Medieval town’ sign in Shrewsbury. Frankwell Footbridge, Greyfriars Bridge, the old Telepost Club at Town Walls and graffiti at Belmont Bank have all been cleaned since. His next target is the underpass at Cromere Road, Monkmoor, Shrewsbury.
“Onwards and upwards,” said John, adding that he even spent three hours on Christmas Day repainting part of Frankwell Bridge base, which had been damaged by the River Severn’s high water and a graffiti tagger.
You can follow John’s latest projects on his Facebook Page.
