Council says sorry after workman removes Paignton yarnbombs
RESIDENTS are needled after a public display of art by mysterious 'guerrilla knitters' was removed by a Torbay Council employee.
The colourful, knitted flowers have been appearing on railings, lamp posts and trees along the walkway from Roundham Gardens down to Goodrington.
But earlier this week dog walkers and residents were outraged when they saw the knitting being cut down and thrown in a bin.
Torbay Council now wants to apologise to the secret knitters.
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Catherine Dolby, of Roundham Crescent, Goodrington, said: "Somebody knitted loads and loads of pretty flowers. I never saw the person who made them but so much work had gone into them.
"But I saw a council worker cutting them all off and putting them in the bins.
"When I asked him why, he said 'There's way too many of them now'. To see him cutting them all off was really upsetting. All that was left was one little flower on a palm tree.
"I felt really outraged. About half a dozen people were all complaining to him."
"I phoned Torbay Council to complain. The next day I had a telephone call from the council's environmental health department saying there had been complaints and they were treating the knitted flowers as graffiti."
James Noone, a Roundham resident and Paignton businessman, said: "I met one old lady who said her husband died at Christmas, and the only thing that still made her smile was the flowers.
"We don't know who is doing it but judging by the knitting, I think it might by older women.
"They were really pretty, there were lots of them, all different types."
Guerrilla knitting has become a worldwide phenomena in recent years. It is also known as yarn bombing, yarnstorming, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk.
While yarn bombs may last for years, they are considered non-permanent, and, unlike other forms of graffiti, can be easily removed if necessary. Nonetheless, the practice is still technically illegal, though it is not often prosecuted vigorously.
A Torbay Council spokesman said: "Unfortunately, a number of yarn bombing items in the Roundham Gardens and Goodrington Park area were removed following a breakdown in communication between council departments.
"An officer who removed them had not been made aware another department had given permission for them to be put up. We are trying to contact those who have been involved in putting up these items so we can apologise. They will be allowed to put up more items."
Comments
by KnitKnax
Thursday, August 16 2012, 3:23PM
“All the knitting is gone, again!
Someone, sytematically took every single piece away.
So much, beautiful, hard work destroyed.
It only takes one miserable person with a pair of scissors and the fun is ruined for everyone :-(
I see a facebook group has started up http://tinyurl.com/4t993”
by KnitKnax
Wednesday, August 01 2012, 3:32PM
“Have you seen? The knitting is all back up - BIGGER and BRIGHTER than ever!
Lots of new knitting; and some of the hacked down stuff has been taken back out of the bins, mended and put up again. Smiles all round :-)
Wouldn't it be wonderful if lots of other people joined in and added their pieces, too.
Yarn bombing really does make people SMILE :-)”
by ROASTIES
Monday, July 30 2012, 3:23PM
“The 'Council Worker' in question was in fact the dog warden, when we asked him what he was doing he replied that they were going to start to look tacky and there were too many of them.
i find it hilarious that the council pay dog wardens to prevent peoples pets from fouling the streets , but would he pick that up and bin it if he saw it? he very quickly removed the knitted items from a bin after viewing me taking them out! When speaking to the council their first reply was that "No such instruction was given to a Dog Warden" This is what they refer to as a breakdown in communication!”
by grumpytoo
Friday, July 27 2012, 10:18AM
“After this Torbay is definately not a happy place to live. These street decorations were lovely they were fun they brought smiles to peoples faces as they walked along Roundham and you waited impatiently for the next one to appear. I loved the fish and the one round the Palm tree. I hope the knitters won't be put off and will do some more decorations.Let's hope the morons at the council will keep out of it. Why is all innocent fun in life to be denied these days because of so called PC and sad so in so's!
I am glad I took lots of photo' of the knitted items at least I have a reminder.”
by hughanchor
Thursday, July 26 2012, 5:06PM
“We need to know the name of this council official, and the details of the disciplinary action taken against him. I hope that he has been sacked, but I expect that he has been promoted.”
by KnitKnax
Thursday, July 26 2012, 2:39PM
“It was a lone council official, who took enormous delight, weilding his Stanley Knife and hacking the knitting down, before unceremoniously dumping it in the bins. Passers by were complaining, but he seemed to enjoying his position of power and authority. So sad...............
People had been leaving 'Thank you' notes and bags of wool in the Cliff Gardens, for the knitters, and every passer-by I spoke with adored the woolly wonders, which often popped up overnight.
I'm glad that most of the Council were happy with the knitting :-)
So get our needles out Ladies and Gents - Yarn Bombing makes people smile!”
by CarltonClub
Thursday, July 26 2012, 10:58AM
“omnivore23 this clearly is the highlight of your day - hows the shed?”
by Karen362
Thursday, July 26 2012, 10:33AM
“Nits and nuts... it's all the same to me. Haven't people got better things to do with their time?”
by omnivore23
Thursday, July 26 2012, 10:28AM
“"Council says sorry after workman removes Paignton" is how this story appears in my browser.
Our regular "Torbay is dead" posters must have bitten their little hands in excitement till they clicked on the link to the real story.
By the way Carlton, while you clearly know a good deal about thickness - the article tells us that the problem was not with the workman at all, but with interdepartmental communications.
What a surprise !”
by CarltonClub
Thursday, July 26 2012, 9:58AM
“Disaffected, poorly paid and probably thick as two short planks - these are, mostly, the morons that work for the council contractors. A reality that some half wit will challenge but there you have it.”