Stolen flag found dumped in garden

5:07am Saturday 17th November 2007

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War veterans have been reunited with their regiment's stolen flag after it was found dumped in a garden.

The Yorkshire Regiment Association's standard was discovered intact close to where it was snatched at the weekend. Frank Barraclough, the association's secretary, appealed in the Telegraph & Argus for its return, and less than 24 hours later it had been recovered.

He said: "I couldn't believe it when I heard a knock at the door and saw Bill Lee from the Royal British Legion standing there with the flag.

"I was speechless. It's great to have it back."

Mr Barraclough still thinks the flag, which went missing from the back of his car parked outside York House in Idlethorp Way on the Thorpe Edge estate, was stolen by thieves mistaking it for fishing rods or a set of snooker cues.

The stolen standard flag, which was dedicated at Bradford Cathedral in 1984, has been paraded at every Remembrance Day since until this year.

Mr Barraclough said: "Thanks to the appeal in the T&A, we got our flag back. It did the trick. A lady found it in her garden and got in touch."