A CANCER survivor who hoped to raise awareness of breast and testicular cancers by placing bras and pants on a prominent tree in her village said she was ‘disgusted’ after a mystery person took them down.

Jill White, 49, had been asking men and women to place their underwear on a tree near St John’s Church in Tatworth – together with a note explaining they were doing so to raise awareness of cancer.

Jill, who discovered last year she had breast cancer, set the ball rolling by placing one of her own bras on the tree last Tuesday night and around a dozen other pieces of underwear were added.

After discovering on Thursday that the whole display had been removed, Jill wrote on Facebook that she was ‘quite disgusted’, and added: “When narrow-minded people realise why I did it maybe they will be a little bit shamed-faced. It's about awareness.”

Jill told the News how the idea came about: “In various towns in the country, ladies have been hanging their bras and boys have been hanging their pants in support of people with cancer.

“There’s a shop in Barnstaple with scaffolding outside that’s covered in bras.

“I thought it was a good idea and thought I might start it off in Tatworth.

“Maybe in hindsight – it being near the church and by the war memorial – it wasn’t a good idea. But it was to raise awareness.

“It wasn’t supposed to be tacky or horrible, it was supposed to be something to give people a bit of a giggle and put Tatworth on the map.

“I certainly didn’t mean to cause offence.

“The landlady of The Poppe Inn said they had a group of old ladies on a coach trip visit and they thought it was hysterical.”

Rev Tim Price, vicar of St John’s Church, said he was not aware of anyone from the church having removed the display, although he added: “I don’t think it was the best place for it.”

Tatworth and Forton Parish Council chairman Andrew Turpin added: “I’m not an authority on bras but they looked fairly respectable to me!

“I can’t see why anybody would object if they were aware of the reason behind it.”

Jill said she is hoping to find another tree in the area to restart her display, although the identity of the person who removed the underwear remains a mystery.

She added: “I don’t know who took them down – maybe it was somebody in need of underwear!”