THE daughter of an Andover man who was viciously beaten in a graveyard assault will have a “dream birthday” thanks to the kind support of the Andover community.

Father-of-one Dan Hall feared his three-year-old daughter Wednesday would only get a “little tea party”

for her fourth birthday, due to his loss of earnings following the attack in September last year.

The IT technician was jumped by a gang of four teenagers in St Mary’s Church graveyard, suffering a broken nose and damage to his eye.

Due to his diabetes, the 30-year-old has since picked up two serious eye infections which have required long hospital treatments and forced him to have time off from his job at Abel and Cole.

The loss of earnings had forced him and his partner to tell their daughter that she would only get a low key birthday this year.

But after reading Mr Hall’s story in the Andover Advertiser, our generous army of readers rallied around and raised more than £350 to give threeyear-old Wednesday a “dream” birthday.

A shocked Mr Hall said: “The response has been quite staggering.

“At first we really didn’t know how to react because we’ve never been the subject of something like this before but we then were like “wow” someone is doing something really nice for us.

“Before all of this she said she wanted a fabulous party but we said because of the situation we couldn’t and it would have to be a little tea party or something.

“But she will love this.

“When we do this party for her she will be absolutely ecstatic.”

He added this week: “This has really restored my faith in the community.

“It shows bad people doing bad things won’t get anywhere when good people band together like this.”

The party, which will include a bouncy castle among other activities, will take place a day before Wednesday’s birthday, which is on Monday, March 20.

As well as Wednesday’s friends, Mr Hall hopes he can get those who have donated to come along too.

He added: “It would be nice if they could come along.

“It’s so nice what they have done and we would really like to thank people who have donated in person.”

Mr Hall was given more good news this week, when his employers at Abel and Cole announced they would be supporting him through his medical treatment.

The company have agreed to pay Mr Hall his wage through February, despite him having to have time off sick to visit the hospital.

Mr Hall said he was “incredibly thankful” for their support.