A long-awaited statue of Last of the Summer Wine star Bill Owen may finally be on its way.
A lasting tribute to the late actor who played comic character Compo has been planned for years but never materialised.
Last September the Examiner reported that a bust had been commissioned and would be installed “within weeks.”
However, nothing happened and now, eight months on, there is a new man in charge of the project.
Ian Gooch, of the Full Life Church in Thongsbridge, said it “may not be long” until the statue is in place and blamed funding and location issues for the delay.
Last year Andrew Bray, of Holmfirth Business Association, said the “bust” would be positioned outside the Yorkshire Building Society in Victoria Street.
But now Mr Gooch says the statue will be a three-dimensional stone carving instead.
News on the belated memorial comes more than a decade after a fund to build a statue of the popular character was started.
People from all over the world donated money to remember Mr Owen, who died in 1999 aged 85, and around £8,000 has been sitting in a bank account ever since.
Mr Gooch said: “I’m very sorry that people have been waiting for news on the memorial.
“It’s been a slow process beset with problems to do with the funding, finding a suitable place to put it and other obstacles but we are closer now than ever before.
“It had been said before that it would be put outside Yorkshire Building Society but in fact that was only one of several town centre options and it’s now most likely to go in a town centre garden.
“But first, we have to find a suitable rock in the quarry we are working with which will be made into the memorial.
“The idea is to make it the same size as Bill at just over five foot and his face will be carved out of it in 3D, so that it can be seen from both the front and sides of the stone.
“Underneath it, we plan to put an inscription agreed upon by his son, Tom, and think it will read something like ‘Bill Owen, a lifelong friend of Holmfirth and Yorkshire’.
“I am trying to work out exactly how much money we have got in the fund and then need to extract from that the amount needed to transport and install it.
“Then the company we are using has kindly said that they will pay the difference if we fall short of the total needed to quarry and have the carving made.”
But Ian will not give an exact date for its installation.
“I’d love to give everyone a date but fear we may reach another obstacle and that would look badly on us.
“We understand everyone is very interested and can only apologise for the delays.
“It will be a great delight to get it out there and put a smile on everyone’s faces.”
