It's been a feature of our town for many decades - but where has it gone?

Hitchin Town FC's wooden fixture board has been sitting proudly at Top Field for many years.

It has been a daily sight for thousands of drivers along the busy Bedford Road, as well as pedestrians on Nightingale Road and dog walkers on Butts Close.

So where has it gone?

Loyal Canary and tireless volunteer Kate Deller explained.

The busy Kate told Hitchin Nub News: "Bless it, the sign was quite rotten.

"Geoff our man who changes the lettering for every new fixture had been putting old results up there to keep it 'alive' during the latest lockdown.

"He went up there when it was windy the other week and he said it really was becoming precarious, when you think about the sheer size of it.

"So it was taken down before it landed on someone's head or car."

With the sign near to the busy Bedford Road and Fishponds Road roundabout, the Canaries initially put up a couple of posts in front of it to hold it firm.

But with safety being paramount the club wisely decided to take the sign down. A new replacement is now being made to fill the void.

"We're waiting for them to make the new one, which will go back up in exactly the same place, hopefully in a matter of weeks. It won't be long," explained Kate.

"It will be in our Canary colours of yellow and green with all our sponsors back on there too. It will be exactly what it was like before, just a newer version.

Kate confirmed: "The replacement sign will be here soon - nobody wants a neon sign up there!"

Last year the Canaries successfully raised more than £61,000 during their crowfunder to keep the Top Field outfit alive.

Bearing in mind the original target was a more modest £25,000, last year's campaign shows just how generous Hitchin supporters were in helping to save the club - not to mention the wider community in our town and further afield.

In return, the club on Fishponds Road is renowned for selflessly helping our community, most recently by hosting a pop-up Covid vaccine station.

Kate is aware of the goodwill shown to the club, and the place the Canaries have in many hearts.

"It is a special wooden sign full of character," she said, adding: "When we were taking it down you could see in drivers faces that they were thinking: 'Where's that wooden sign gone?

"There has been so much work that volunteers at the club have been doing behind the scenes. In amongst all this misery there are exciting times.

"Top Field is a lovely old ground and it deserves to be rejuvenated."