An environmental group has apologised after an iconic North East monument was daubed in graffiti at a protest march.
Surfers Against Sewage North Tyneside protestors took part in a UK-wide day of action on Saturday which turned the spotlight on water companies and pollution. Around 40 members walked from Collingwood Monument at Tynemouth to Cullercoats Bay as it’s currently the only beach in North Tyneside that doesn’t hold a prestigious Blue Flag.
But many Tynemouth locals were left angered after slogans were found written on the Grade Two listed monument that stands overlooking the mouth of the River Tyne dedicated to Admiral Lord Collingwood, who was second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar and is often referred to as the forgotten hero of the naval engagement that claimed Nelson’s life.
Read more: Surfers Against Sewage to hold protest march to highlight poor water quality at Cullercoats Bay
Messages reading ‘we want public ownership of water,’ ‘SAS’, and ‘no poop’ along with a giant picture of a fish, were scrawled in coloured chalk across the plinth on which Collingwood stands as well as the base pedestals holding four cannons from Collingwood’s ship, HMS Royal Sovereign.
Joan Harvey, secretary of Tynemouth Village Association, was among those who condemned the action. She said: “These are the Tynemouth Village Association’s thoughts, everybody’s thoughts, but Surfers Against Sewage have done their cause no end of harm. It’s a bad advert for their cause. What an awful thing to do. It is absolutely not on. They are just defacing Tynemouth.
“Collingwood is one of the most famous faces of Tyneside. Why would you want to deface that? It is a form of vandalism. It may not be as bad as something which is completely indestructible, but it’s heading in that direction.
“It is condoning the sort of destruction of the very things that you would have liked to have thought that Surfers Against Sewage is seeking to preserve.”
And Sam Dand, Director of Environment at North Tyneside Council, added: “The council does not condone vandalism of any sort, especially to our historical monuments in the borough. Our teams are ensuring Collingwood Monument is cleaned and restored to its original state."
Andrew Riley, regional rep for Surfers Against Sewage who organised the rally, has apologised for the slogans and drawings, which have now been washed off by North Tyneside Council and the rain. Mr Riley also said he had been to the monument with a mop to clean off any remaining chalk.
He said: “We brought some pavement chalks along and the children in the group drew on the monument. It was deliberately done with chalk that washes off, but we appreciate with hindsight that some people see that monument as quite a sanctified thing, so we should have taken that into consideration.
“It was children trying to creatively express their support for the campaign, but we have reflected on it and realise that whilst we see bricks and mortar, other people have different affiliations to that monument.
“It won’t be something that we do again. On the day someone came over and complained and I apologised and said it wasn’t our intention to upset or annoy anyone. As I have said, it was children trying to creatively express their support.
“The kids are really upset that they have to go swimming in seas that are polluted by sewage. But in retrospect, we got the location wrong. We have learnt from this and we won’t be doing it again.”
To suggestions that the children being allowed to draw on the monument could have sent out the wrong message to their peers, Mr Riley said: “We did a big clean last month around the monument and we picked up 25kg of broken bottles and stuff like that, so please don’t put these kids in the same group as those causing trouble.
“That is not what it was at all. These were seven, eight, nine, 10-year-old kids on an organised protest creatively expressing their frustration at the water companies who aren’t doing enough to safeguard our waters.
“I don’t see how this can be linked to supporting teenagers and adults who cause problems. We actually did a clean whilst we were at the monument and left it tidier than we found it and we used chalk, whereas graffiti people use paints.
"I am disappointed that this seems to have become a bigger issue than the sewage pollution in our seas and rivers."
