NO-one can miss the 14ft granite slab at Rotherwas in honour of women employed in the bomb factory there during the last war.

But it is almost a physical impossibility to go behind it to read the names of dozens of war time bomb workers engraved on the back.

Frances Lea, formerly of Holme Lacy and now living at Putson, found that out when she made a special visit to Rotherwas to read the names of her parents Adeline and Charles Hoskins, who moved to Dinedor in 1939.

Both had worked at the nearby Rotherwas munitions factory and Mrs Lea provided their names to be etched, with others, on the back of the monument.

When she went to check they were there she was faced with a major obstacle.

"For older people it is almost impossible to get under, through or over the railings that separate it from the road. I managed it with difficulty, but my friend Freda gave up. I took a photograph and she has to be satisfied with that."

Mrs Lea is delighted with the imposing slab and its dedication to the bomb factory workers, mostly women.

"But what is the point of engraving all their names on the back if you can't get round to see them,'' she said.

Herefordshire Council agrees.

Melanie Bateman, principal art's officer, said it was aware of the situation but because of highways restrictions could not create an access to the slab, which stands on a piece of land along the Straight Mile at the junction of a road leading to the industrial estate.

But the council was trying to negotiate a pathway to the slab on land subject to future development. It was also hoped to provide two car parking bays.

The slab is one of three installed at different points at Rotherwas depicting the positive role of women there.

The £60,000 cost was met by European and central government and was part of a project by Herefordshire Council and Herefordshire Law.