11 June 2014

Please note: this news article is in our archive. Articles were correct at time of publication, but should not be relied on for accuracy after the passage of time.

TOWN Clerk Julie Holden has asked visitors to the McIndoe statue to donate money to the Appeal fund rather than spending it on flowers which will be removed at the end of each day.

Just 24 hours after the unveiling, two floral tributes had been left at the statue by visitors from Basingstoke and Brighton.

But while she was touched by their stories, Julie said the money would have been better spent paying off the more than £50,000 which still needs to be raised to pay for the statue.

‘The statue is a public memorial, not a private one,’ said Julie, ‘and no-one wants it to look like one of those roadside shrines full of dead flowers.

‘I fully understand why people feel they have a very strong connection to the statue, and I was touched to speak to the Brighton visitor who came in memory of her father. But we will be clearing flowers away at the end of each day. So I would urge anyone who comes not to spend a fiver on flowers, but to donate it to the Appeal fund instead – that way they will be part of the statue forever.’