Outrage as business on Biggleswade High Street has Remembrance display defaced

A display championing the armed forces created at a Biggleswade business was defaced ahead of Remembrance Sunday.

Staff at Frankie's Barbering and Tanning on Biggleswade High Street commissioned an artist to paint a customised tribute to servicemen and women.

On Friday (3 November), stylist, Hayley Paterson, posted on social media confirming individuals had scribbled all over the display.

An outline over a soldier kneeling had been scribbled all over and two names were etched into the businesses window.

Hayley said on Facebook: “Someone has ruined our amazing Remembrance Day artwork by scratching their names in it!

“So disrespectful! Fuming is an understatement.”

Other Biggleswade residents displayed similarly strong disapproval on Facebook groups.

Town Councillor Jonathan Woodhead said: “That’s disgraceful! I was going to come down later and take a photo too.”

Thankfully, Hayley was able to arrange for the creator of the original display, Sarah Hunnibell, to design new artwork.

Sarah, who’s work can be found on Instagram @hunnibell, offered to replace the original artwork free of charge.

Beyond the chance to participate in a decades long tradition of Remembrance, the design held a greater level of personal pride for those involved in the business.

Contained within two of the soldier outlines were dog tags with the military numbers used by Hayley’s brother, Mark Stephens, and the business owner, Neil Addington. Both men previously served in the military.

Hayley has decided not to contact the police or town council seeking further punishment for those involved. She hopes that the unanimous reaction of anger and shock on social media will be enough to discourage other acts of vandalism.

Hayley added: “I wanted to get the window done for Remembrance Sunday last year, but [Sarah] gets fully booked with the Christmas holidays. So I booked it in last year, ready for this year.

"I was so angry when I came in and saw someone had actually wrote their names on the soldiers. But [the display] is now something that we will be doing every year, definitely.

"Unfortunately, it is probably a load of kids who have done it. The main thing was getting it repaired, hopefully it won’t happen again.”