Who is the Burley Daddy?

It’s late Sunday night at my desk at home. The glow of the laptop bathes my face. My feet are tired from two days of tramping round much of north-west Leeds, yearning for an answer I’m not sure I’ll get. A well-earned glass of wine sits to my right; Facebook Marketplace is open in front of me. I take a deep breath. I’m compiling a message that, in my entire professional and personal life, I’ve never thought I would send. 

“Are you looking for a daddy?”

It all started the previous Friday, on a precious afternoon off work when I was, unusually, minding my own business. It couldn’t last. My phone pinged: a message from my editor. “For when you’re back,” he writes, “I have a mystery for you to solve. 

“Who is the Burley Daddy?” 

It’s followed by a collage of nine photos, each one showing street furniture like signposts and bins, with white stickers slapped on them. In thick marker, they bear messages as curious as they are brief. “PlZ BE MY DADDIE.” “WHY NOT DAAD.” “PAY ME DAddY.” 

“DAD” one simply says. It goes on. 

The tag and its variants are incredibly prolific: apparently it’s all over Burley. One of our neighbours in our Dock Street office, himself a local, tells us it’s the talk of the Cardigan Arms. Who is this person, seeking a daddy figure by the unusual medium of stickers slapped on lampposts? This seemed like more than yet another unintelligible tagger. I needed to see it for myself, so that afternoon, I lace up my trainers. The hunt for the Burley Daddy is on.

That’s today’s story — but first, it’s your regular round up.

The round-up:

🙏 Tributes have poured in from the political world after the death of former Leeds City Council leader, Keith Wakefield. The councillor for Barwick & Kippax (1988-2004) and then Kippax and Methley (2004-2019), who served as leader of the council between 2003-2004 and 2010-2015, died at the weekend after a short illness, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported. Current leader, Councillor James Lewis, worked with Wakefield in their ward for 16 years and said he “will miss his friendship greatly”. Wakefield was “always committed to improving the lives of local people and tackling inequality”, he added, as well as being “instrumental” in promoting collaboration between councils in West Yorkshire. This led to the establishment of the Combined Authority and bringing the Grand Depart for the Tour De France to Leeds in 2014. Interestingly, speaking in an interview with the Local Government Chronicle when stepping down from council leadership in 2015, Wakefield said an elected mayor model for the Combined Authority was “not my preferred option” and that the county needed “a much more collective and democratic [model] than an elected mayor”.

🟢 A significant update on the alleged altercation at the Leeds Green Party members meeting last Tuesday in Leeds Civic Hall. Draft meeting minutes shared with The Exchange indicate it involved Councillor Mothin Ali and a party member, Daniel Klein, who had put forward a motion “greater transparency”, in the words of one source. These draft minutes reveal there was disruption throughout the proposal. Then, when Councillor Penny Stables spoke against the motion, Klein “attempted to take an image with Mothin in the background”. The draft minutes added that, “Mothin snatched the phone away and threw the phone onto the floor”, with both parties then asked to leave. “Both Co-Secretaries verify this is an accurate representation of events”, the draft minutes added. Several sources who joined the meeting online confirmed seeing some form of kerfuffle.

A Green Party spokesperson told us they disputed “this incomplete account” when we put it to them. West Yorkshire Police confirmed it was called to reports of an assault at the civic hall at 6.25pm last Tuesday, with a further report of criminal damage received at 6.45pm.

🚂 A mention for The Exchange in Media North prompted Calderdale-based writer and journalist Andrew Bibby to get in touch about a lovely story that we just had to share. To look at, the Hebden Bridge Signal Box seems like a memory of a bygone era, but this belies what’s going on inside. The Grade II-listed building does still house its original signal lever frame, installed in 1891, but the upstairs has also been restored as an exhibition space. Here’s where it gets interesting though as downstairs there’s now “quirky overnight accommodation” in Andrew’s words, so if you’re looking for a special weekend away with the train-obsessed person in your life, you know what to do. The signal box closed in 2018 and has now been brought back into community ownership by the Calder Valley Community Land Trust.

📱Those of you who were here at the very start of The Exchange might remember we used to have a WhatsApp us button, which then abruptly disappeared. It’s time for the awful truth to come out: Daniel lost the phone, which has been missing for about four months now. However, after a weekend away with family, he was unpacking his suitcase when his hand struck something hard and plastic: the prodigal phone had returned! So why not immediately WhatsApp us with something interesting that you’ve seen or heard and think is worth looking into? Here’s the button. Or just send us a nice message, we’d love to hear from you.

We want you all to develop your “I’ve got to tell The Exchange about this” reflex until it’s second nature to inform us of even the smallest thing happening in this patch. Add us to your contacts, spot something interesting, photo it, ping it over. The phone will be kept safely in the office from now on.

Who is the Burley Daddy?

By Mia Jankowicz

It doesn’t take long for me to find my first example, on a graffiti-strewn path between Chapel Lane and Cardigan Road. There, there’s not one, but three little stickers seemingly appealing to an absent dad. The style is distinct. “LOVE YOU DAd <3” says one. It’s the first step in a quest that will go far deeper than I expected, into a world of tags, laundrettes, and DJ nights.