In the News: vandals, football and army witches

Uffington White Horse vandalised
Vandals have defaced the Uffington White Horse, on the Berkshire Downs in Oxfordshire. A BBC news story said that parts of the 3,000-year-old chalk monument have been painted purple. Police and National Trust members have been working to repair the damage.

There are images of white horses on many British hillsides. The oldest white horse in Britain is the Uffington horse, which many pagans revere because they believe it is an ancient representation of the goddess Epona.

Read the full story at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxford/10238108.stm. You can read my earlier post on white horses at: http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/08/white-horses-of-england.html

Footballer dates witch
English footballer Ashley Cole, who plays for Chelsea, is apparently going out with a witch. Sarah Purnell, who has been named as Ashley's latest girlfriend, calls herself a "white witch", according to a story in The Mirror. She is quoted as saying: "I'm part white witch - fond of potions and making my mates' dreams come true."

Read the full story at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2010/06/07/ash-girl-s-kiss-and-spell-115875-22315706/

Army witches serve their country
There are 30 witches and 100 other pagans in the UK's armed forces, according to a story in The Star. However, the newspaper quotes Phil Ryder, chairman of the British Druid Network, as saying that there are in reality far more pagans than that in the army. He said: “They tend not to publicise their beliefs for fear of discrimination."

An MoD spokesman is reported as responding by saying that members of the armed forces are free to worship whoever they like, so long as it does not ­interfere with their work.

Read the full story at: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/138662/Charmed-forces-Witches-pagans-druids-in-services/

The photographic print of the Uffington White Horse from Mary Evanspictured above is available through Amazon