A CHILDREN'S charity fundraiser is furious after two huge banners advertising an event were stolen. Anne Bunyan, a voluntary fundraiser co-ordinator for The East Anglian Childrens' Hospices, was left seething after a £55 banner, measuring 8ft by 2ft, was ripped off a fence at a roundabout close to the Copdock Interchange.

A CHILDREN'S charity fundraiser is furious after two huge banners advertising an event were stolen.

Anne Bunyan, a voluntary fundraiser co-ordinator for The East Anglian Childrens' Hospices, was left seething after a £55 banner, measuring 8ft by 2ft, was ripped off a fence at a roundabout close to the Copdock Interchange.

Another banner was removed from a roundabout in Martlesham.

Mrs Bunyan said the banners were two of ten put up around Ipswich, Woodbridge and Felixstowe.

She said: " We put the one at Copdock up last Friday (August 5).

"It was there on the Tuesday but we noticed it had gone by Thursday. I was absolutely furious."

Mrs Bunyan realised a second banner at the roundabout between Foxhall and Martlesham had gone missing by Monday morning.

The banners advertised a Ride for Life event at Rendlesham Forest on Sunday, September 4.

Mrs Bunyan said: "We had permission from Ipswich Borough Council and Tesco to put it up and it was kindly sponsored by car dealers John Grose.

"What would anyone want with a banner like that? I can't understand it. It is no good whatsoever."

Left with just one ripped corner of the white and purple banner at Copdock, Mrs Bunyan said she is today appealing for its return.

She added: "We didn't report it to the police but we would like them back. It is hard to get sponsorship. It would mean we could highlight our event and help raise money for all the families that use the hospice."

The hospice is based in Foxhall Road and currently cares for 75 children.

Mrs Bunyan said: "I am a mother and grandmother and I am very fortunate to have healthy children. I thought I would like to help raise as much as we can to make the lives of those children at the hospice that little bit easier and give them as much fulfilment of life as we can.

"This year it will be very hard to raise money after the Tsunami and African appeals."

To make a donation, return the banners or to find out more about Ride for Life, please contact Mrs Bunyan on 01473 730247.