Take a letter – giant ‘M’ is missing

The Taranaki Arts Festival Trust is appealing for the return of its missing letter ‘‘M’’ after it was apparently stolen over the weekend.

The M was one of the five colourful letters making up the name Womad, the World of Music, Arts and Dance Festival, which returns to the city’s Brooklands Park, March 17-19 next year.

For weeks the letters have stood on the grass outside the Plymouth International Hotel, on Northgate/ State Highway 3, where they were seen by thousands of drivers heading into the city each day.

But sometime overnight on Saturday, someone made off with the bright yellow letter M and also tried to take the W, Rebecca Johnson, Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (Taft) marketing and communications manager, said.

Johnson said the theft had been reported to the police but Taft was hoping the culprit would have a change of heart and bring the letter back. Taft pulled up the W,O, A and D yesterday and put them in storage.