Milestone plate replaced

The plate on the second milestone out of Upton on the Welland Road has been replaced on the stone.   The cast iron plate, with one corner missing, was given to The Milestone Society who asked the Upton Civic Society if they could have it restored to the stone which was itself cracked.   Pat Loader and Roger Halford of Access were given the task.  They dipped and cleaned the plate before further using their skills to replace the missing piece and paint the plate.  The stone then had to be dressed and repaired and the plate itself replaced.   Now, in all its pristine freshness, the stone, originally placed there by the Upton Turnpike Trust announces that it is 81/2  miles to Ledbury and 2 miles to Upton.  The 1/2 on the original had not been cast, but drilled out:  not only word processors make the use of fractions difficult!   Mr Terry Keegan, the Secretary of the Milestone Society, who went to look at the stone for himself said "What a superb job!  Knowing how much that plate weighed, I had my doubts that it could ever be reunited with its stone: and also, remembering how the plate had a piece broken out of it, there is not even a suggestion of a join. It is a magnificent piece of restoration work." Simon Wilkinson