Return of the giant meercat (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Colerne's missing sculpture turns up outside Fox and Hounds pub

8:00am Sunday 24th June 2012 in Corsham

A giant meerkat sculpture which went missing at the end of Colerne’s celebrations of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee has been returned to its owner.

On Sunday, June 3, the 8ft sculpture from Broadlands, in Box Road, Bathford, was packed away near the village rec, where a fete had taken place and it was left to be picked up the next day.

When Broadlands owner John Thompson went to collect it, the meerkat was missing – along with a 6ft owl, which was later found damaged in a hedge.

He said: “We packed up on the Sunday and when we came to get them on the Monday morning we found the owl in a hedge and the meerkat had simply disappeared.

"Quite a bit of banter started in the village and on Facebook about where the meerkat had got to and it finally turned up outside The Fox and Hounds in Colerne the following Friday.”

Mr Thompson has now collected the sculpture but is annoyed that someone took it in the first place.

He said: “It is quite strange and a bit annoying that some idiot thought it would be funny to take it, but at least we’ve got it back now.”