Steadfast in Service

There is a typical old style Hampshire County direction sign in the centre of the village. It's been in the village longer than I have. I've photographed it several times before. Earlier this year I noticed that right at the base there was something colourful attached to it. I've considered photographing it several times before but today I actually got round to it.

After a morning of tedious stuff I went out to the Co-operative to buy some milk and stamps. As there was still some light I took my compact camera with me and took a few shots of the thing.

Now I've had a good look at it, I can see it's the Mayoral Crest for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council. The trees at the top refer to the previous rural districts of Basingstoke and Kingsclere & Whitchurch. The trees should be on a field of gold for agriculture, but here it's blue for some reason. The black (should be blue) wiggle creating a chevron is one of the rivers in the area such as the Test. The green figure is supposed to be St Michael fighting a dragon (looks more like a giant pink lobster). The words are "Steadfast in Service", which is just about legible.