Mystery as 'thieves' ruin school's Halloween event

Nine wooden signs made specifically for the Halloween trail have gone missing

Parents in a Surrey village have been left "baffled" after a set of handmade signs used for mapping out a children's Halloween treasure hunt were stolen from a woodland and have still not been found.

Organisers of Peaslake Free School's Halloween fundraiser put the signs around Holmbury Hill on Friday but returned the following morning to find they had vanished.

Sam Powick, whose husband made the wooden signs, said the trail had been run successfully for four years with the permission of the landowner.

"Everyone's had a look in the hedges to make sure they are not just in there but they have definitely gone, it's a loop, so someone has gone around and taken them," she said.

Mrs Powick's husband builds guitars for a living but spent a week making the signs for the school's Halloween festivities

Peaslake Free School and Nursery is for children aged two to seven. It is part-funded by the government but also needs to raise about £30,000-a-year itself.

Families pay a donation to take part in the Halloween trail but at this year's event on Saturday spirits were dampened.

Addressing whoever took the signs, the school said: "Not only did you ruin Halloween fun for children, you stole property belonging to Peaslake School and damaged our ability to raise funds."

Mrs Powick said the school still managed to raise about £300. She urged the thieves to rethink their actions and return the signs to the school anonymously.