"I painted iconic 'Will U Marry Me' graffiti at Sheffield's Park Hill flats and this is the true story"

In a city known for its fabulous graffiti, one piece literally towers above all others in Sheffield’s public consciousness.

The ‘I Love You Will U Marry Me’ proposal scrawled high on a bridge at Sheffield’s famous Park Hill flats has gained iconic status, with the romantic gesture shining brighter than ever since it was lit up in neon by the developers behind the estate’s dramatic transformation.

The heartfelt message has won a place in Sheffielders’ hearts but it has also been co-opted as a marketing tool, printed on T-shirts sported by the Arctic Monkeys and now takes centre stage in the award-winning musical Standing at the Sky’s Edge, which is captivating audiences in London’s West End.

Amid all that, the tragic true story behind those words boldly emblazoned 13 storeys up in 2001 for all to see - but for one woman in particular - have too often been forgotten.

Plaque unveiled in Clare’s memory

Jason Lowe was the lovestruck artist behind the declaration, using every inch of his six-and-a-half foot frame to reach over the edge and spray the words - all while trying to avoid looking down as he suffers from vertigo.

He nearly ran out of space, which is why he wrote ‘U’ and had to squeeze the letters of ‘Marry’ to make them fit.

Clare Middleton, the subject of the proposal, said yes. But they never did get married - with Jason blaming interference by social services for ending their love story - and she tragically died of cancer aged just 30.

It has always rankled with Jason that Clare’s name was scrubbed off while the proposal itself was left standing - erasing her from the story.

That is something he’s finally been able to set right 23 years later by installing a plaque in her memory atop a plinth on the ground beneath the bridge and its celebrated artwork.

‘We were really happy’

As Jason, now 52, unveiled the plaque with Clare’s sister Jodie Ashworth, he explained why he had painted the proposal all those years ago, what Clare meant to him and why things didn’t work out.

“I was in a relationship with a girl and we were both having issues with (social) services and we were really happy in our relationship,” he told The Star.

“The relationship was going strong but then services stepped in and basically ruined the relationship and caused it to end.

‘Clare needed someone to show her they loved her’

“The proposal wasn’t a last ditch effort as people say it was. We’d been together for over a year, so there was purpose behind it and it was, as everyone knows, a two-fingered salute towards the services that were involved.

“But it was always about Clare and that she needed someone who was going to show her that they actually loved her, and I put myself through a hell of a lot leaning over that bridge to actually make it for her.

“When I took her down and showed her yes she called me a k******d like most people probably would do but the perception is it was a failed marriage proposal and it wasn’t. She said yes. It’s just a shame that we never got to the point of going through with the marriage.

“One thing that’s always done me is that Clare has never been part of the story when it is mentioned.

‘Clare had a calming aura about her’

“She was kind, compassionate and she had a calming aura about her. She drew everyone in. There are people who say bad things about her but if you knew Clare and knew her deep story she was very much a deep, loved person, who loved life.

“Today’s story is about Clare and the part of the bridge you can see which was Clare’s name. The left hand side of it you can see it very faintly now.

“Everyone recognises me and gives me recognition for the graffiti and Clare gets very little so hopefully after today when the plaque and plinth’s in place and on show finally people will be able to marry them both up and she’ll finally get that recognition.”

Clare’s heartwrenching poem

The plaque features a poem written by Clare, which is all the more heartbreaking knowing what a difficult life she had and how her story ended. It reads:

When I was a little girl, I used to have a dream

That one day soon, a knight would come and carry me away

We would live happily in fairyland forever

Where me knight would protect me, always and forever

Where no harm could come to me, where nobody could hurt me

Clare sadly died before her younger sister Jodie had the chance to get to know her but from their dad Jodie learned about Clare’s ‘happy go lucky’ personality and how she ‘loved everybody’.

‘She absolutely loved the proposal’

“I never met her but a lot of people who knew her said she absolutely loved the proposal,” said Jodie. “I think she would be happy that it’s still there and is so well known today.”

Jason has previously told how he grew up in care and was physically and sexually abused in children’s homes.

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He claimed that social services had advised Clare to end the relationship because she had children and social services believed it was likely that someone who was abused as a boy, like he was, would go on to become an abuser.

Unveiling the plaque, Jason said: “Clare is as much I Love You Will You Marry Me, if not more, than I am, and this gives her the recognition she deserves.”

He thanked Jean and Mick Shaw, of M Shaw Engraving, for making the plaque; the ‘golden girls’ of Park Hill, for helping to clean the area around Clare’s plaque; and his ‘fantastic’ lawyers Tim Maxwell and Tamara Wedlake, of Wedlake Bell, for helping to secure the protection of his artwork and the new plaque and plinth.

He added that he had struggled to find someone to fit the plaque securely to the plinth and asked anyone who could help to contact him.