The director of a non-profit organisation based in Buckinghamshire said he was saddened by the vandalism of a one-of-a-kind mural painted by a local artist and schoolchildren.

Volunteers for the Chiltern Rangers, a charity aimed at promoting engagement with local wildlife through education and conservation, discovered the vandalism of a painted mural outside the Funges Meadow Nature Reserve in High Wycombe on Sunday morning (October 22). 

Marcus Levers-George, 31, who regularly volunteers with the organisation alongside working as a set designer in the film industry, said he visited the site to see the damage for himself over the weekend and was left with a bad taste in his mouth.

"The mural is on a metal panel and it's been ripped - someone clearly had a good go at pulling it off the wall. My first thought was that I wanted to do something to help take the weight off the shoulders of the Chiltern Rangers team, who are great people and already do so much for the community."

Marcus launched a GoFundMe page on Sunday, with a goal of £1,000 to cover the creation of a new mural - a target that was almost met within 48 hours, with 86 contributors donating a total of £880.

"I think John Shaw (Managing Director of the Chiltern Rangers) and the team are some of Wycombe's most unsung heroes. I grew up in Nottingham and moved here five years ago, so I never really got the chance to engage with nature growing up, but through the work of the Rangers, I've fallen in love with it.

"I thought I might as well set up a fundraiser to try to help and, to my delight, people have really responded to it. It was up to £50 within just a few hours - I was blown away."

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John Shaw, 45, said he had been saddened by the act of vandalism but was bolstered by the show of community support championed by Marcus's campaign.

"The mural was a unique piece which will cost us between £750 and £1,000 to replace because we worked on it with Dan Wilson, a local artist, as well as our volunteer and school groups. 

"It's sad because these vandals may have just been young people who were bored and under the influence. It doesn't seem like they had any objective."

He added: "The response shows that we have a community that won't accept acts like this - though I'm aware that people shouldn't have to dip into their own pockets to pay for something that was originally taxpayer-funded. 

"The Funges Meadow Reserve is a disused railway tunnel and it used to be covered in graffiti before we put our scenes of nature up. Unfortunately, it is still a hotspot for anti-social behaviour, and we have reported this instance to the police."