On Christmas Eve year a group of vandals damaged the spectacular 20 foot long mosaic in Ventnor’s Central car park.
The wooden frame was damaged in order to prise out the mosaics and those missing were nowhere to be found in the immediate vicinity. The garden beneath the display was trampled and empty cans of lager were strewn across the plants.
This was devastating news for all those who worked so hard. However, yesterday we heard that all four missing mosaics have now been found and returned.
Ken Knapman got in touch to send out a special thanks to local residents, Pete and Debbie Campbell who found two of the mosaics. He would also like to thank the diligence of the shopkeepers opposite, who took them all in and removed the loose ones from the broken frame for safe keeping.
Ken says, “The situation has turned into its opposite thanks to our Ventnor citizens who have come forward. The Mosaic group is in the process of repairing damage and Ventnor Enhancement Fund is going to put up an even better frame. Community tradesmen have offered to do the repairs and it will be even better than before. We even have new volunteers who have already started working on the latest ones to go up in the Botanical Gardens and two already have been completed. So let’s not be gloomy, the people of Ventnor are responding and bad news is turning into
good news!”
Well done to everyone for pulling together and making the best of a rotten situation.