A TREE of ‘lost soles’ has appeared in Altrincham.


The tree stump, which has a number of odd shoes attached to it, is located on the corner of Oakfield Road and Moss Lane.


It is not entirely clear who created the tree or why it is there, but the general consensus on social media is that the tree is to commemorate the people who died when a bomb hit houses there during the Blitz.


The bomb, which fell on December 23 1940, killed 12 people including four children.


Messenger chief reporter Chris Griffin wrote a number of features on the Oakfield Road bomb blast in 2012, which can be found at messengernewspapers.co.uk/search/?search=oakfield+road+bomb+blast.


Many members of the ‘Hale & Altrincham Life’ Facebook page have pointed out that a similar ‘tree of lost soles’ has existed on the A57 in Warrington for a number of years and Altrincham now appears to have followed the trend.


Kath Lucas wrote: “I saw that, it made me smile so it can't be a bad idea.”
Claire Hollingsworth said: “It's to remind us of all the people that lost their lives in the war, a bomb was dropped there...I think a house was on that corner with a family hence 'lost soles'.”


Nigel Hobson said: “Usually they are on roads with high fatality rates, I pass the 1 on the A57 quite often, it has quite a sobering effect to speeders sublimely!”


MiniKids Ltd posted: “The creator said they were inspired by the tree which can be found on Princes Highway in Woodburn, New South Wales.”


• Why do you think the tree is there? Email sam.editorial@messengergrp.co.uk or tweet @MessengerNews_.