One ‘L’ of a mistake leaves Sir Edmund’s fans fuming

A new road name sign installed on Hillary Avenue in Bispham - named, like several roads in the area in honour of Sir Edmund Hillary’s famous 1953 ascent of Mount Everest - has been misspelled ‘Hilary’.

The error was spotted by Hillary Avenue resident Stephen Kirkham.

“It’s disappointing they’ve made this mistake,” said the 28-year-old dad-of-two.

“This was an extra sign they were installing directly opposite an existing sign with the name spelled correctly. You would think the people who were putting it up would have noticed and stopped what they were doing. I don’t know how it’s happened. Maybe it is just an oversight, but the road is also spelled as ‘Hilary’ on Google Maps, so perhaps someone at the council just looked it up on there and assumed it was right.

“That’s unless they actually want to change the spelling and I imagine quite a few people around here would have something to say about that.”

Mr Kirkham said he believed the mistake should be corrected. “It’s nice to have the efforts of those people marked in this way,” he added.

“I know it will cost money to put right and I appreciate that money is tight at the moment, but they shouldn’t have made the mistake in the first place.”

A Blackpool Council spokesman said: “We’re aware a spelling mistake was made during the installation of the new road sign. A replacement has been ordered and will be put in place very soon. We apologise to residents for the error.” The correction will cost £80.

Sir Edmund Hillary’s team, led by John Hunt, was the first British expedition to succeed in climbing Mount Everest, completing the feat on May 29, 1953 - the same year in which the houses on the road were built.

Other nearby roads named in honour of the expedition include Everest Drive and Gregory Avenue, named after team member Alfred Gregory.