Telford parish clerk defends making Armistice Day link when she hit out at ‘keyboard warriors’
A Telford parish clerk has strongly defended her decision to mention Armistice Day when she hit out over online abuse on a social media post.
Jane Lees said she has been targeted over the years alongside other officials in what she described as an “outpouring of hate” by “keyboard warriors”.
In a post on Hadley and Leegomery Parish Council’s Facebook page on November 11, Armistice Day, she remembered the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice “because they believed that their home and their neighbours were worth dying for”.
She went on to slam keyboard warriors who “make the vilest allegations from the safety of their bedrooms”.
The clerk signed off with a plea on “today of all days, let us make this a community that heroes long to return home to”.
Controversy was caused over the Remembrance weekend after the clerk had taken a picture of parish council chair Eileen Callear and mistakenly posted it online.
It showed Councillor Callear “putting a phone away” after she had taken a photo of a serving member of RAF Shawbury who was “some distance” from a parade.
Accusations had been made online that Councillor Callear had been "disrespectful" by using her phone, the meeting was told.
Resident William King challenged the clerk on her decision at a meeting this week.
Mr King said: “I’m very sad to hear that you have had problems with bullying and inappropriate, unprofessional behaviour. It shouldn’t happen to anyone in their workplace.
“I will say I thought it was inappropriate to try and link it with Armistice Day because that should be about those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the country.”
The clerk said: “I am sorry if it did offend people, it was not meant to offend people.”
She said members of her own family had fought in the Second World War and others were currently serving in the armed forces.
“I heard a veteran say on Remembrance Day that this world isn’t the world that the people who died would have wanted to live in because of the bullying and harassment of people who can’t answer back,” she said.
She said she wanted to ask for people to make the world a better place after ‘seeing the effect’ that abuse has on Councillor Callear.
Councillor Callear said it was “wholly inappropriate” that a “fabricated post” had become the “focus of the day” when attention should have been on the sacrifice of members of the armed forces.
