Villagers reeling from theft of iconic pony statue come up with bizarre replacement – Daily Star
With locals clearly missing their beloved bronze statue of a pit pony, they’ve started fighting tooth and nail for redemption and now they have a very bizarre replacement
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A community was rocked when a thief stole a treasured bronze pit pony statue from the village's sign. But 20 months later, they're attracting much more positive headlines.
With everyone in Ryhope, Sunderland, still triggered, they've launched a wacky scheme to get the statue back.
While the council refuse to buy a replacement, the campaigners' use of rocking horses and teddy bears instead has the caught the attention of people from every corner of the country
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Debra Hope, who's lived in the former pit village for 30 years, told the BBC: "It's just gone absolutely wild.
"People from out of the area are getting out of their cars to take photos."
The 41-year-old, who adores the mining village, is extremely proud of her heritage.
With her grandad, Bert Watson, having spent extensive time working as a miner, she now feels the need to tend to the new furry replacements, making sure they're ok.
And some have even been blessed with names.
Debra said: "You can ask most people in Ryhope, Seaham and Silksworth if they know someone and their parents and grandparents will have worked down there."
The sign was initially erected in the noughties as a tribute to the working animals that hauled heavy carts of coal through underground tunnels.
And now, the momentum is in full swing to get it back, and it's all thanks to Dave Potter and Kel Busby.
The humorous pals started placing things down for a bit of 'banter' for social media, but the idea quickly caught fire.
Dave said: "If [the statue] hadn't been replaced and, with it being empty, we thought it would be a bit of a laugh, something to perk people up, and it just took off from there."
"We just thought it would boost people's recollection, get the council to pull their finger out to buy a replacement."
And if the council doesn't fork up the cash, the trio said they will fundraise for a replacement themselves.
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