Charity base hit by graffiti vandals

Vandals have scrawled graffiti over a charity's base on a car park in Cannock.

The black paint is thought to have been daubed on the mobile building on Beecroft Road car park used as a base by Cannock Chase Hospital's League of Friends.

The damage was discovered following the Christmas break and the charity now faces paying out to get it removed. League chairman Ethel Powell said: "It looks a right mess and it is really upsetting that people haven't got anything better to do than target charities which are just trying to help people.

"I can't even tell what it says and they should be made to clean it off themselves."

The graffiti has been reported to Cannock police and CCTV in the area is to be checked to see if the culprits were caught on camera.

The League of Friends pulled out of its hospital shop in July last year after volunteers said they felt unappreciated and now operates solely from the base on Beecroft Road car park.

Since pulling out of the shop, Mrs Powell has accused health bosses of ruining Cannock Chase Hospital and wasting the £1.5million that fundraisers had collected over the years.

She was fuming at recent news that the hospital's restaurant was to close and revealed she felt she had been practically forced out of the League of Friends' shop within the hospital to pave the way for the move.

Mrs Powell, aged 87, said the League of Friends had ploughed around £25,000 into refurbishing the restaurant a few years ago and said she now felt it was a waste of money.

The hospital's restaurant will close as part of a plan to move services into the top two floors of the hospital.

In December Mrs Powell threatened to give up her prized MBE because she was so disgusted at recent developments at Cannock Chase Hospital.

She said she was considering sending her award back to Buckingham Palace because she was so incensed at the changes being made at the facility.

She had campaigned for the hospital for the last 30 years and campaigned for it to be built in the first place so the people of Cannock had their own hospital.

By Michelle Pearson