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Originally posted by Galadriel

Considering I am born and bred in East Yorkshire I'm afraid I have to plead ignorance over the figure of Jesus on the Cross at the top of Garrowby Hill. Have tried to Google to get info but with not much success. The statue absolutely fascinates me but please can someone put me out of my misery and tell me who made it? Who placed it there and why? Who maintains it?

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• The Cucifix on the right hand Side as you go down the hill was erected in the summer of 1956 in memory of King George VI by his friend the first Earl of Halifax - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._L._Wood,_1st_Earl_of_Halifax



• The gravestone memorial was erected in 1996 in memory of those who lost their lives when a Halifax Bomber hit a milk lorry which was travelling up the hill at 10.15hrs on the 7th of February 1944.
  
  The following is from the 7february1944.co.uk website.
  
  by Alun Emlyn-Jones, Bomb Aimer.
  
  Garrowby Hill is in Yorkshire but the story of the fatal crash there starts near Oxford at the village of Stanton Harcourt. On that airfield was an Operational Training Unit and there my crew of five flew two-engined Whitley Bombers. During this and in their spare time we were welded together in a strong friendship. Aircrew members tended to feel like an extended family and we certainly did. During our time there, we won the shield for the best night bombing.
  
  The course completed, we moved on to a Heavy Conversion Unit at RAF Rufforth, near York. Learning to fly the four engined Halifax Bomber on what we hoped to complete a tour of 30 operations, together, over enemy territory. The Halifax has a crew of seven, so two more members joined our family.
  
  That winter of 1943/44 was a hard one and it was in snow that I rolled one night, as the pain of an erupting appendix gripped me. I went on weekends leave whilst our Medical Officer decided whether my appendix should be removed. I went home to Cardiff by train. Whilst waiting for a connection at Gloucester, I had another severe attack and on arrival at Cardiff was taken into a nursing home where my appendix was removed. It was 1st February 1944 . my 21st birthday. I wrote to Stan Bright, my pilot, saying that I hoped my absence would not mean that they had to find another Bomb Aimer. He replied reassuringly that the weather had .clamped., they were flying only occasionally and I could catch up on the training when I returned in 3 weeks.
  
  On the 7th February they went up in that .clamped. weather. In cloud they would have not have known where they were precisely. It would have been natural to descend below the cloud level to get their bearings. They were not to know that the 838 feet of Garrowby Hill was between them and the flatlands. So they struck the road that follows the top of the hill, hitting a lorry that was using it. It was a glancing blow, the aircraft disintegrated and everyone died. The instructor who had completed a tour of operations had been gazetted with the Distinguished Flying Cross shortly before this final flight.
  
  I thought about them often and in 1996 set up a memorial at the point of impact. I received great support in this endeavour and 92 people attended the unveiling, all associated in some way with that tragic event. The RAF gave us a fly past.
  
  Now each year on Armistice Sunday as many as can gather on that site and remember those young men, two of whom were still in their teens, and the lorry driver.
  
  After the crash I was a Bomb Aimer without a crew. A crew whose Bomb Aimer had been killed adopted me and I felt very fortunate to complete a tour with them at 51 squadron.
  
  RAF Crew
  Flt. Sgt. STANLEY BRIGHT, Pilot Age 22
  Sgt. KENNETH SMITH, Wireless operator Age 22
  Sgt. JOHN FREDERICK NELSON, Engineer Age 21
  F/O JOHN KINGSLEY MEYLER, Navigator Age 25
  Sgt. PETER GORDON MCDONALD, Air Gunner Age 19
  SGT. SIDNEY JAMES BOOKER, Air Gunner Age 19
  Flt. Lt. ALFRED JOHN SHIRLEY HODSON, Pilot Instructor Age 29
  
  Civilian
  Milk Lorry Driver - Mr Arthur Wood Kirkby, aged 39, of 3 Carlton Street, Hessle Road, Hull. He worked for the London and North Eastern Railway and was a member of the Home Guard.

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Originally posted by Galadriel

Do you mean the statue of Jesus? I hope they've taken it to be spruced up and are going to put it back. Perhaps those in charge of it have finally read this site and taken notice and doing something to clean it up!

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