Heartache at poppy vandalism at Blackpool memorial site

The poppies had been pinned onto a replica of the Changi Gate which honours soldiers killed in the Far East during the Second World War.

Liz Clayton, who helps look after the Burma Star Garden at the arboretum on Moor Park Avenue in Bispham, said she was heartbroken to find the poppies had been vandalised.

She said: “It was devastating to see the destruction of our tributes to our beloved veterans, especially in this terrible year.

“We have missed DDay, VE Day, Battle of Britain Day, Armed Forces Week, VJDay, countless funerals have passed without the tribute of standards and anniversaries have passed unmarked.

“Remembrance Sunday and Remembrance Day were almost unmarked compared with the events of previous years.

“This was all we could do to offer our everlasting thanks and total respect to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom.

“I had pinned poppies to the Changi Gate and they have all been ripped off.

“The culprits had also climbed onto the Dame Vera Lynn wall leaving dirty marks. The wall is for plaques to remember frontline workers who have died this year from Covid.”

Greenlands ward councillor Rick Scott has now asked Blackpool Council to consider funding CCTV coverage for the arboretum.

He told a meeting of the full council: “There has been a recent increase in anti-social behaviour resulting in vandalism at the site.

“There is funding for CCTV at Stanley Park, and I would class the arboretum, along with the Cenotaph, as another of Blackpool’s gems.

“The police won’t take action unless there is evidence from CCTV.”

Responding to his request, Coun Mark Smith, cabinet member for business, enterprise and job creation, agreed to ask council officers to look into the situation and “see what can be done”.

Previous incidents of vandalism at the arboretum include shrubs being pulled up in 2018.

The Changi Gate replica stands among a number of memorials at the arboretum including a stone monument bearing the words of the Kohima Epitaph, and a piece of railway symbolic of the infamous Burma Railway.

Prisoners of war being held in Changi Prison, Singapore, built the original gate which stood at the entrance to the prison cemetery.

It became a powerful symbol of the sacrifices which were made.

At the end of the war it was dismantled and returned to England, where eventually it was re-assembled and now stands in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Blackpool’s scale model , which was unveiled in 2017, was built by students from Blackpool and the Fylde College.

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