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29
Oct
Vandals attack Ripon's knitted poppy displays
Volunteers were left sad and angry this morning when some of Ripon’s displays of knitted poppies were found to have been vandalised overnight.
Three of the eight swathes of remembrance poppies on the bandstand had apparently been swung on, tearing the netting they are fixed to, and one had actually been cut.
Stuart Martin, co-chair of Ripon Community Poppy Project, which puts on the annual display, said the damage was clearly intentional.
He told the Stray Ferret:
They’re really tough nets – impossible to snap without damaging your hand. Whoever’s done it has intended to do it.
One net had been deliberately cut.
He said he and poppy project co-chair Hazel Barker had spent the best part of an hour repairing the damage as well as they could, but added:
It doesn’t really matter how long it took. The fact that someone thought it’d be a good idea to damage the poppies is just sad.
People died to give those people the freedom they enjoy, so the least they can do is show respect for the fallen.
The damaged nets had apparently been swung on.
The poppies made their first appearance in 2018, marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
Volunteers knitted 75,000 of the red and black flowers, and they can be seen every autumn, in the lead-up to Remembrance Day on November 11, throughout the city centre, from Spa Gardens to the cathedral, on the bypass roundabouts, and other locations.
Mr Martin said:
We’ve just finished putting all the poppies out, so Ripon’s really looking its best now.
This is the second time that vandals have struck since the poppies were first made seven years ago. On the previous occasion in 2019 police caught the culprits and Mr Martin and Ms Barker were given the chance to speak to them.
Mr Martin recalled:
We explained what the poppies signify and what remembrance is all about. We showed them some of the names on the war memorial and pointed out one who was 17 when he was killed.
One of the lads who’d done the damage was 16, so he was only a matter of months younger than the name on the memorial. That had a real effect on him, and I think he realised then how important remembrance is.
Stuart Martin and Hazel Barker (pictured) repaired the damage.
He said if the latest culprits are found, he would like to ask them what made them do it, adding:
I’d just like to sit down and talk to them and make sure they understand what this all means, so that they don’t commit the same crime again. Of course, if they did do it again, we might have a different conversation...
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