A "MEAN-spirited person" has stolen an 80-year-old artefact from a special exhibition of town history in Musselburgh.

A King's Badge which dates from the late 1930s was part of an exhibition in the Burgh Primary School for the town's Riding of the Marches festival, which took place at the end of last month, for the first time in 21 years.

But organisers have now revealed that it has disappeared.

Alastair Knowles, Riding of the Marches chairman, said: "The exhibition has been hailed as a great success and quite rightly so.

"It covered a great slice of Musselburgh life and represented a good cross-section of the population, including a modest display by the local Boys’ Brigade Company and pipe band.

"It is therefore with a degree of sadness that I have report that some mean-spirited person chose to blight the experience of the Braby family, who, in trust and good faith, provided a King's Badge gained by a member of the family in the late 1930s, by removing it from its display case, which was located in the school gymnasium.

"The badge is of little intrinsic value but its history within the family means a great deal to them and Adam, the Town Drummer for Marches week, in particular, who kindly offered the badge for exhibition."

The Boys’ Brigade received royal approval to introduce the King’s Badge in 1913 and it came into service in 1914, with strict rules governing its award, including a personal recommendation by the Company Captain of the suitability of the candidate.

The form of the badge which was stolen was introduced in 1927 and was replaced by the Queen’s Badge of similar form in 1953. It is cast in silver-plated nickel.

"It would be to the benefit of the whole community if it were to be returned to Adam and his family," added Mr Knowles.