Email sent. I'm going to hide under the bed and never ever check my email account ever again :-D
Hopefully I'm not the only person who finds themselves writing an email and then having to spend ages deciding if the snark level is appropriate or needs to be lowered by at least 90%
Efforts to find out if the council is really offering to save the mural for £40k remain unanswered. My understanding is that £40k is extortionate and appears to be around 8 times the cost of recent similar projects.
OK -- I've only got 4 minutes before a meeting! Full snark?
OK, rant over. RIP to "Little Abe, the Bishop of Berry Brow" from those who desperately wanted to save him, and also to the forgotten mural likely hidden away behind plasterboard which will soon feel the sledgehammer of doom wielded by Kirklees council.
Sad news. With thanks to colleagues in @heritagequay.bsky.social I've viewed a press photo taken when the earlier Holme Park Court tower block was officially opened and there is indeed (or at least was) a second and much more elaborate mural by Barden in the entrance foyer. It likely remains hidden.
If they're expecting "the community" to obtain competitive quotes, hire a ceramics expert to safely remove the tiles, and to fully fundraise all costs, they know full well that that's nigh on impossible in only two weeks. However, I suspect they'll still blame the community anyway for not saving it.
Despite best efforts, the relevant department in the council is stonewalling community efforts to save them and it's hard to see a successful outcome. An offer to fully fund the project to save the mural was made in Oct 2025 and apparently rejected by a council employee. Now it's too late.
For those new to this saga, since 2021 until last Tuesday evening, the council had given repeated firm assurances that the mural would be saved and that the cost of doing so would be covered by the overall project to demolish the tower blocks at Berry Brow.
huddersfieldhub.co.uk/community-gi...
Given that Calderdale also don't want to save the mural at Halifax baths, that's two (quite possibly three) pieces of public art by Huddersfield-born Kenneth Barden destined for the skip 😕 @c20society.bsky.social
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
