Crowds cheer as repaired Paddington Bear unveiled
The unveiling of a repaired Paddington Bear statue has been met with applause and cheers.RAF Odiham engineers Daniel Heath, from Thornton, near Bradford in West Yorkshire, and William Lawrence, from Enderby, Leicestershire, ripped Paddington from his bench in Newbury, Berkshire, in the early hours of 2 March.Paddington was recovered and repainted, and unveiled by Ian Batho and Ashley Morris from Newbury Business Improvement District (BID) on Wednesday.The statue was unveiled in front of an applauding crowd, including pupils from John Rankin School, with BBC Radio Berkshire's Phil Mercer leading the countdown.
The statue was originally unveiled in the hometown of Paddington creator Michael Bond in October 2024.It was one of dozens put up across the UK as part of the Paddington Visits trail to celebrate the film, Paddington in Peru.Heath and Lawrence, both 22 and based at RAF Odiham in Hampshire, admitted criminal damage and were ordered to carry out unpaid work as well as pay £2,725 to cover the cost of repairs.
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