Bradford Council has given the thumbs up for two new plaques to be put in place to commemorate the opening of a Bradford street by the Queen Mother.

The move follows a campaign by Coun Allan Hillary (Lib Dem, Bolton) after the original brass plates disappeared from two trees in King's Road, Bolton.

It was on April 27, 1928, that the then Duchess of York and her husband, who was to become King George VI, planted two young saplings at the junction with Queen's Road.

The trees stood the test of time but now the search is on to find out what was written on the plaques so faithful replicas can be made.

Bradford Council arboriculturist Eric Waterworth has been given the task off putting the new plaques back.

He said: "After discussions with the Recreation Department they accepted the positioning of the new plaques on the original site providing they were not on the trees, possibly fixing them to a stone plinth or guard.

"What we want to try to do is reproduce the original plaques but we can't find any information about what they looked like or what was written on them.

"If the worse comes to the worse we might have to write an appropriate tribute ourselves but it would be much better if we could get the original wording."

Councillor Hillary started the campaign to have the plaques replaced after Bill Watkins, 80, who lives in Springwood Terrace on the junction, brought the matter to his attention.

Coun Hillary said: "Bill saw the trees planted as a ten-year-old boy and remembered the brass plates being added some time later as a permanent record of the Duchess's visit.

"Now we've got the permission from the Council to go ahead with the new plates it seems a shame to fall down at this last stumbling block. Maybe somebody's got old pictures of the plaques hidden away.''

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