Whoops! PM Wilson sign erected in wrong village
FIERCE REACTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA AFTER BIG BLUNDER
HIGHWAYS chiefs in Huddersfield honoured former Prime Minister Harold Wilson with a road sign... in the WRONG village.
Wilson was born in Cowlersley – but blundering workmen put the sign up in nearby Linthwaite.
Now the sign that proclaimed “Welcome to Cowlersley” with the subheading “Birthplace of Harold Wilson” has been quietly removed.
All that remains is a bare metal pole.
Locals reacted with a mixture of anger, frustration and befuddlement over the appearance of the sign on Gillroyd Lane close to Linthwaite Church. Aside from failing to be in Cowlersley it was nowhere near Wilson’s former home.
Born in a modest terraced house on Warneford Road on March 11, 1916, Wilson became the 67th (and 69th) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
He was also 1965’s Pipe Smoker of the Year, a guest star on the Morecambe and Wise Show and a proud son of Huddersfield.
The new road sign in Cowlersley (sorry, Linthwaite) was set up 20 years after a bronze statue of Harold Wilson was unveiled by then Prime Minister Tony Blair in Huddersfield town centre.
Referring to the sign one resident said he had made a formal complaint to Kirklees Council.
Another suggested that it would be quicker for a member of the public to move the sign to a more appropriate location rather than wait for the council to do it.
Former councillor Donna Bellamy, who represented Colne Valley ward for the Conservatives, said it was right that someone like Harold Wilson should be recognised.
But she described the siting mistake as “embarrassing and added: “I would hope it’s the council that has taken it down and not some random member of the public. And if it reappears I would hope it’s several hundred yards further down the road - so that it’s actually in Cowlersley, not in Linthwaite The fact that Linthwaite Church is across the road was a clue. This is just basic knowledge.”
Her words were echoed by comments on social media, which included “bloody ridiculous”, “the sooner it gets moved, the better” and “you couldn’t make it up”.
But someone else wrote: “Moaning over a sign. Seriously? Don’t any of you have anything better to do?”
The Huddersfield Examiner raised the issue with Kirklees Council and within 24 hours the sign had gone. As Wilson himself once observed, “a week is a long time in politics.”
The council has yet to comment.
The fact that Linthwaite Church is across the road was a clue. This is just basic
knowledge
.“