Thieves steal charity flag from Army veteran (From Your Local Guardian)

Thieves steal charity flag from Army veteran

10:15am Friday 27th August 2010 in Sutton By Claire Fox

Thieves steal charity flag from Army veteran

Thieves have stolen an Army veteran’s fundraising flag, which is used to raise thousands of pounds for soldiers’ charity Help for Heroes.

John Bartram, 78, flies the large flag on the main road outside his farm shop on Woodmansterne Lane, Carshalton.

He uses it to attract visitors into his shop to purchase the charity’s merchandise but, just a month after he erected it, the flag has been stolen.

Since Mr Bartram – who comes from a long line of war heroes with his grandfather and father serving in World Wars One and Two respectively – started collecting for the charity he has raised more than £10,000.

He said: “My son said he heard a car door slam at about 11pm last Thursday and when we came down in the morning the flag had gone.

“The cords were down, so it hadn’t blown away, someone had taken it. I am shocked someone would steal something like that. How despicable can one be?”

Mr Bartram, who served in the artillery and field regiments of the Army, began raising money for the charity two-and-a-half years ago, after hearing the story of brave paratrooper Ben Parkinson, who lost both his legs fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He said: “I thought I would like to do something to help, so that started me off. I began by putting out collection tins and doing bits and pieces in various clubs.”

Mr Bartam’s efforts have grown steadily over the years and he now organises fundraising fun days and sells the charity’s merchandise on market stalls and at his shop on Sunray Farm.

Help for Heroes raises money for wounded ex-service men and women.

On hearing of the theft, Bryn Parry, the head of Help for Heroes, immediately offered to replace Mr Bartram’s flag.

He said: “It is saddening to learn someone could do this and we would like to urge them to return the flag.

“However, we would also like to thank John hugely for his wonderful and tireless fundraising during the past two years and hope this incident does not discourage him from continuing to support our wounded heroes.”