Barrow Raiders fan paints mural of Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins
Last updated at 16:35, Tuesday, 24 July 2012
A BARROW Raiders fan has caught the attention of the media with his mural of history-making Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins.
Barry Woods, whose family are originally from Barrow, lives in Eccleston, the same Lancashire village as the first Brit to win the Tour de France.
The 51-year-old Raiders follower painted Wiggins sporting the famous yellow jersey on the side of The Windmill Hotel in the village.
Mr Woods has created various murals on the pub wall for occasions such as the World Cup and The Diamond Jubilee.
Someone popped an anonymous note into the pub suggesting Wiggins should be his next image to grace the wall. People have been taking photographs of the design since it was created two weeks ago.
The former sign writer was actually at Earnse Bay, on Walney, with friends on Saturday when he got a call from home to say that reporters from national and regional newspapers wanted to speak to him and take his photograph in front of his creation.
While in Barrow Mr Woods had bought a new Raiders shirt – and an Evening Mail to catch up with the team news – so when he got home he decided to pose in his Barrow colours for the newspaper pictures.
Mr Woods, whose parents Bill and Betty hail from Barrow and Ulverston respectively, but who both now also live in Eccleston, said the attention has been good.
He said: “They (the media) wanted me to wear a yellow shirt but I wanted to be different and stand out so I put my Barrow shirt on. Bradley Wiggins’ achievement is brilliant.
“It’s just unbelievable. He is fantastic.
“I couldn’t sit on a bike, never mind ride one.”
Mr Woods, said he has walked past where Wiggins lives but probably would not have recognised him before. The Raiders fan, who also has an uncle in Barrow, gets to games when he can, and hopes to be back to see them take on Oldham next week.
First published at 16:04, Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk
@The Poacher "He won a bike ride for crying out loud". Get a grip man, it's only the worlds toughest endurance race that is also the most popular/watched televised yearly sporting event apart from the world cup and the olympics, but they only come round every four years. The fact that he is the first Britain ever to win it let alone the only person ever to win the Tour de France, Tour de Romandie, Paris-Nice, Criterium du Dauphine all in one year speaks measures of the man's attitude and commitment to the sport he is clearly very passionate about. I for one salute Bradley Wiggins on his achievement of winning a "bike ride" and as for Barry Woods good on you mate let's celebrate a fantastic display by Bradley and Team Sky, i'd like to see Poacher try a 50 mile bike ride let alone a stage on the TDF. Come to think of it why not enter into this years Tour de Furness?
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@the poacher your ignorance of the sport of cycling, the tour de france, and Bradley Wiggins is not surprising, as this country doesnt have much of a cycling pedigree until recently, but your view is irrelevant as you dont seem to be able to differentiate between a ride & a race. You just continue sitting in your arm chair getting fat and moaning about stuff you dont understand.
Posted by J HIll on 25 July 2012 at 13:07