A ROAD sign welcoming people to Trowbridge has been vandalised with anti-Polish graffiti in the week a project providing help to migrants from Poland was hailed a success.

The sign in Frome Road saying Welcome to Trowbridge was sprayed in black paint, changing the sign to read Welcome to Poland.

This act of vandalism occurred around the time a celebration event was taking place on Tuesday to mark the end of 11 drop-in sessions for migrant workers, held at Trowbridge library between October and March.

Trowbridge mayor Tom James is disgusted by the racist behaviour.

He said: "Well I just think it is very, very sad because we should be congratulating ourselves on how we make migrant workers feel welcome, and it must be remembered they put so much time and effort into the local economy and are deserving of our support.

"People who do that (vandalism) only know half the story and don't listen to the full story.

"We pride ourselves for being multicultural in Trowbridge, with the Moroccan community as well as the Polish community, many of whom have been here for donkeys years.

"People should remember that the Polish community living here are not just the Polish community, but the Trowbridge community."

The sessions in the library included presentations on a range of issues highlighted by the Polish workers as of interest, and speakers included representatives from the Polish Consulate, Trowbridge Town Council, Wiltshire traffic police, citizens' advice bureau, the council's housing department and the Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Joint funding from the Government Office of the South West's Sparkplugs Innovation team and West Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership made the sessions possible, and it is hoped more will take place in the future.

Speaking about the project, Cllr Andrew Bryant, the council's community portfolio holder, said: "We wanted to help integrate the Polish migrant worker community with the wider community, and this project has been very successful in achieving this aim.

"I am hopeful that we will be able to run something similar again in the future."