Today is the 100th anniversary of the day that Wilfred Owen was killed in the First World War. The irony being that Owen somehow managed to survive living in Birkenhead’s Willmer Road to write some of the world’s most celebrated war poetry.
Birkenhead has long made an issue of Owen’s tenure in the town. So what a terrible indictment and yet such an appropriate ‘tribute’ that the anniversary was marked by this picture :
We are with the statue on this one. Complete and utter futility.
The unveiling of the sculpture was widely heralded on MSM including BBC -read here and inevitably Wirral Globe ,who as ever indulged Birkenhead MP Frank Field with this piece of work titled Poppies spring up around Birkenhead for Wilfred Owen Commemoration . As Field says :
To commemorate, of course, is to do more than simply remember. It is to enshrine in the memory that which must never be forgotten.
We’d like to ask whether any of the MSM were around when the sculpture was due to be unveiled. An eyewitness tells us that at the specified time that there were a couple of people milling around complaining that there was nothing on social media to tell them the event was cancelled, a war veteran proudly wearing a poppy and a confused tourist astonished that the sculpture was placed opposite a building that was in the process of decay. For those who were there it will indeed be a memory that will never be forgotten – and for all the wrong reasons.
Now we don’t whether North West Construction were responsible for the debacle or whether they’ve been called in to rectify the situation but what a complete and utter shambles.
This was the shoddy scene that greeted visitors at the time the sculpture was due to be unveiled :
But then the people of Wirral are used to cover ups.Perhaps this was indeed the best way to commemorate the occasion . ‘Futility’ is the word…
Memo to Frank : When Owen wrote ‘ Move him into the sun’ he was asking for the last earthly enjoyment to be bestowed on someone about to die . It was NOT an exhortation to write for the ghastly rag of the same name… just sayin’!
Slime
Them or us? Either way we’ll defend our position to the death.
Errr not you .. sorry
Never apologise to us. Ever.
Frank field has out shone himself this time!!! Shoddy, half hearted and a disgrace the the memory of a hero. This is how he’s left Birkenhead residents, 40 years of his rule!!!
Call a by-election Frank and give us all a rest!!!
This is a misleading report and I doubt if the person writing was there, you see a good crowd was there for the unveiling and immediately prior to the unveiling the statue (of great quality) was wrapped in a BLACK cloth, NOT a blue tarp, I can only assume you had this photograph specially taken during construction.
This was the information and photographs we received from separate people who visited the the site on Sunday and we’re disappointed at what they saw. We didn’t attend the event .We don’t have a photographer . It transpires this was a ‘pre-unveiling’ for a select few and not the for general public who turned up . There’s another ‘unveiling’ this weekend apparently. Although it is a fine sculpture we stand by the fact that the memorial site wasn’t finished and we have other photographs to support. The cement is still wet and the site is closed off.
Why isn’t this fine statue in Hamilton Square? Instead it’s in the corner of a car park in Duncan Street named ‘Hamilton Park’ according to the BBC. Never heard of it. No such place. But it sounds better than a car park.
This news report “reliably” informs us it is in Hamilton Square, possibly that Wilfred Owen lived in Hamilton Square.
https://www.shropshirestar.com/news/local-hubs/oswestry/2018/11/06/wilfred-owen-events-continue-to-mark-100-years-since-death-of-shropshire-war-poet/
I was visiting today, Tues 6/11 and it has wire mesh fencing around it. Why could this wonderful sculptor not be positioned in Hamilton Square gardens instead of the corner of a car park? Stupid decision again by the council as it Will not receive the recognition it deserves as most people will visit and walk around the gardens and won’t walk out of the square, cross over the road and stand in a car park to view it unless they specifically know it is there.
Agreed