Mermaid artwork damaged by vandals
A community art project in Ellesmere town centre featuring scores of mermaid figures has been hit by vandalism.
More than a dozen of the individually-designed art works have been damaged since the project was launched a month ago and project organiser Sally Poynton says she’s disappointed and saddened.
“It’s very disheartening to see this happening after so many people have put so much effort into brightening up the town and trying to attract more visitors,” she said.
“I just can’t understand why anyone would want to do this, but I hope that pictures from the CCTV cameras around the town centre will help to identify those responsible.”
Sally and her husband Alan have managed to repair most of the damaged figures to ensure that they will remain on show while the project continues until early September.
More than 80 mermaid figures are on display around the town centre after Sally, who works as a library assistant, appealed for shops, businesses, schools and community groups to get involved.
The mermaid theme continues with special, ‘swim with a mermaid’, sessions in the pool at Ellesmere primary school on August 16.
Jeni Hall, from Gobowen, who tours the country as a member of the professional Performance Mermaids’ Group, will be running the sessions between 11 am and 2.30 pm for children aged 7-11
The sessions have been arranged by Ellesmere Library which is promoting the project as part of its summer reading challenge programme. Tickets, £8 are available from the library or by booking online through Eventbrite
Jenni, who performs as Mermaid Seren, will be visiting the library between 11 and mid-day on Tuesday, August 10, then spending time in the town centre and on the mereside promenade.
