super etcetera

In Ashfield Park there is a fine avenue of phoenix palms, a lovely sandstock summer house, a bowling green, a soccer field, several playgrounds, a statue of a Pilipino liberator and another of Mary Poppins. But when I went there Sunday, all that was left was ankle boots on the plinth and the plaque below. Quel horreur ... ! Someone had cut her off below the knees. It was impossible not to think of her bronze umbrella lifting past the palms, except she would never have left her boots behind. Today's Inner-West Weekly has the full story. P. L. Travers lived in Pembroke Street in the 1920s, before moving to England where she wrote her book in 1934. The statue exists because a schoolgirl, Gracie Drew, campaigned two years for it. On the front page is a photo of Gracie, sitting sadly on the plinth from which the jagged-ankled boots have been removed. Mary Poppins was found lying next to the foundation last Friday. The man in the Summer Hill newsagency said she was so heavy they needed a forklift to take her away. The Ashfield Council hopes to have the statue restored and reinforced within the next week or two. The Mayor has asked anyone who knows who the guilty parties are to contact the Council or the Police. We simply won't tolerate this mindless and destructive behaviour, he said. Vandalism such as this costs the community a great deal.