'Fantastic, patriotic, awful and horrible'

NORTH SHIELDS COMMUNITY'S MIXED VIEWS ON HUGE ENGLAND FLAG DISPLAYS AND GRAFFITI

- By SOPHIE DOUGHTY

NORTH Shields’ Meadow Well estate is today awash with in white and red after locals pinned St George's Crosses on almost every available space.

The England national flag can be seen fluttering on lampposts up and down Waterville Road, which runs through the estate, while many residents have chosen to display their own flags on their homes and cars.

There is also red and white graffiti painted on walls and bollards. Meadow Well is just one UK community that has seen a growing number of Union Jack and St George's flags being displayed following the launch of Operation Raise the Colours, a social media campaign that has seen people climbing up ladders to hang rows of flags off lampposts and painting red crosses on roundabouts.

But the movement has divided opinion. The Chronicle visited the Meadow Well to ask residents how the display on their doorsteps made the feel. And while the majority of those we spoke to were passionately in favour of the flags, some worried about the message they might send to others.