SOME sad, pathetic soul stole my flag of St George yesterday. I was upset because it was a present to me from the man who made it, Pat Whelan of Westbury.

Pat had spent a long time working on that flag. He was a military tailor and did things properly. You could not go out and buy a flag of that hand-sewn quality.

Our house is the first one you come to when you enter North Bradley from Westbury and so we try to keep it looking nice to give a good impression of the village to visitors. So I had pinned a Union flag for the jubilee and a flag of St George for the England team on my garage doors which face the oncoming traffic.

Why would anyone want to climb over my locked gate in broad daylight (between 10.30am and 5.30pm) to steal my flag? Is he a misguided England supporter who, having had the odd glass of lager, chooses to bring his team and country into disrepute by stealing the very symbol of what he claims to support?

Perhaps he is just a sad person who cannot appreciate the nice things he sees and is driven by a desire to destroy them. Could he be the victim of a dare by his equally sad friends?

I hope he has a prick of conscience when the intoxication of the World Cup and lager wear off. It would be nice if he brought it back of his own free will. Do you know who the thief is? Will you ask him to bring my flag back? Sad and pathetic he may be, but he can't be all bad if he really is an England supporter.

RICHARD L NICHOLSON,

Westbury Road,

North Bradley.