Charity cash taken from Swan Fountain in Stratford - The Stratford Observer

Charity cash taken from Swan Fountain in Stratford

Stratford Editorial 8th Jan, 2016 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

FOREIGN visitors seen taking coins thrown in Stratford’s Swan Fountain have been slammed for stealing valuable funds from charity.

Those who make a wish and throw some spare change into the fountain in Bancroft Garden may not realise they are actually supporting the Shakespeare Hospice – with all money collected by Stratford Town Trust and donated to the Shottery charity.

The fountain was closed for the winter in November and the water was turned off and the coins emptied out.

But people are still making a wish and throwing coins into the dry fountain.




Margaret Reeve was recently with her family in Bancroft Garden when she saw youngsters taking coins from the fountain.

Incensed the money used to help a charitable cause was being taken, Margaret and her stepson tried to tell the children and their mothers to stop only to find they did not speak English.


Margaret told the Observer: ” The children scooped up every donated coin, whooped with joy at the haul and went away as quickly as they had arrived.

“The language being spoken was possibly Dutch or German, but they did not respond to my stepson’s rebuke in German. I was incensed that this should happen and wondered why it was so easy to gather the money donated.”

The Stratford Town Trust and Shakespeare Hospice both declined to comment when contacted about the incident.

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