Who has taken Elmar the Elephant?

Elmar the Elephant, which covered an entire bench and was made by knitting group Crafty and Wine, is thought to have been snatched overnight on Saturday.

Event organiser Sally Spriggs said: “It has been such a positive thing for Tring and I think people just think how can someone do this to Elmar because it brought such a lot of joy to children. It makes you feel sad that they are being very thoughtless.”

Thieves also struck last week making off with small knitted creatures that were part of the Church Square exhibition.

Despite the disappointment the group, which put on the knitted display as part of celebrations to mark 700 years since the signing of Tring’s market charter, is determined to stay upbeat and the time that the display will be on show has been extended.

Sally said: “We are fairly tongue in cheek about the whole thing and I don’t want it to get to nastiness on the internet because it’s just not worth it, that is not what we are about but it has left a bit of a sad feeling.

“It was a real feeling of deflation when we realised.”

The display was due to be taken down on Sunday but after calls from the public for it to be left in place the knitted creations will not be removed until Friday.

“There were strong pleas from the public to leave it in place,” said Sally. “The consensus is that it should stay. Most people said you can’t take it down because otherwise the vandals have won.”

At the end of the exhibition, Elmar along with other handcrafted items, were due to be auctioned off to raise money for charity.

Sally said: “It would be lovely if someone would just leave it in the church porch. It would be nice if they brought her back.”