Bookmakers Ladbrokes have donated £5,000 towards the campaign to create new statues of Alfred and Ada Salter to replace the statue of Dr Salter stolen from the riverside in 2011.

“We were delighted to receive such a generous donation of £5,000 from Ladbrokes community fund,” said Gary Glover, chair of the Salter Statues appeal.

“Along with donations from other local charities and from the many people moved by the terrible theft of Dr Salter, we are now well over half way towards our target of £50,000.

Catherine Dale, treasurer of the Salter Statues campaign, said: “We have fund-raised £29,400 which is being match-funded by Southwark Council, meaning we need to raise another £20,600 to reach our target and see new statues of Alfred and Ada reunited with Joyce and the cat on the Bermondsey riverside.”

You can donate online at salterstatues.co.uk.

Richard Royal of Ladbrokes added: “We believe in supporting local communities in the neighbourhoods that we are represented within.

“Our Community Fund supports specific localised causes that have a strong community link, and the restoration of the Salter Statues which are symbolic of the history of this area, is a prime example of this.”