Tuesday 15 December 2015

Mourn All You Like, On Your Own Property!

Friends of Lukey Maxwell, who would have turned 23 on Saturday, left flowers outside Kenneth Robbins House in Northumberland Park, Tottenham, where he was stabbed to death in June.
But his mother Lynn Jones received a letter from Homes for Haringey asking her to take them down because “they do not give a good general impression of the area” .
Well, no. Let’s face it, the streets of Tottenham must be pretty thick with wilted flower ‘tributes’ to dead yoof…
The white flowers, which spell out the words Lukey World, cost £300 – but if it they are not removed by Friday the housing association will destroy it.
Causing outrage, OUTRAGE! I tells you!
Mrs Jones, 48, said: “There are no words to describe the pain and shock I felt when I read that letter - it is so heartless. I am deeply offended.
“He told me he was ‘sorry to hear’ about Lukey’s death but he doesn’t sound like he is. My son was murdered.
“If anything, this tribute is a loving thing – it shows unity and it shows that people care. Murderers, drug dealers and graffiti paint a bad picture of the area, not this.
“Inside, I am a broken person and things like this do not help me heal. I didn’t even have anything to do with this tribute – it was done by people who love Lukey.”
They’ve got to write to someone. Might as well be you.
The community stand by Mrs Jones’s decision not to remove the tribute.
Family friend Nicola Dady said: “It is astonishing, the community should have the right to be able to mourn openly the loss of a loved one.
“If and when the tribute comes down that really should be when people are ready and not before.”
You do have the right to openly mourn a loved one. It’s what gravestones are for. Or sponsor a tree or a bench in his name.

But your tacky chavshrine in a public area will have to go.

7 comments:

Bucko said...

Lukey? FFS

wiggiatlarge said...

Julia, please do not encourage the already growing world of memorial benches, as you can see they have chaviness all of their own............

http://www.legacymonuments.ca/legacy_monuments_gallery/legacy_monuments_benches/images/06L-Legacy-Monuments-Benches-Neal.jpg

This is from a piece I did over on N O in August.

Trevor said...

He must have been a special person indeed to inspire a tribute song by "international artist Skepta.

Andy said...

There's a good trade in repainting white bicycles left as tributes to cyclists killed on our roads. Mothering Sunday flowers are so much easier to find now that these floral tributes proliferate. Don't stop this outpouring of grief. If anything, see it as a crowd thing, spawned by the internet, born of the national lip quivering after the death of HRH Princess Diana. What a tear-fest that was.

James Higham said...

Benches with bolts in them.

Lord T said...

That isn't a bench. It is clearly a monument. I guess they had to put the flat areas in to ensure someone could sit and therefore get the title bench.

That sort of thing is just looking to get vandalised.

JuliaM said...

"Lukey? FFS"

Indeed!

"...as you can see they have chaviness all of their own..."

!!!!!

"He must have been a special person indeed to inspire a tribute song by "international artist Skepta."

Heh! Quite...

"Benches with bolts in them."

A live electric current would be more appropriate.