What sort of lowlife scum .....

[reetnproper]

.... would vandalise the veg garden of a primary school?

Yesterday afternoon (Thurs) was gardening club at our village school. It's only a small school with less than 50 pupils in total and is very close knit.

This week I was helping one group and their teacher, make bamboo wigwams for the broad beans and sow carrots, parsnips and cauliflowers into one of the beds we prepared last week.

Another group was sowing carrots and parsnips into 1ltre empty pop bottles (the idea is to enable them to be able to watch the root veg forming).

The third group were busy putting together and filling various bird feeders which their teacher had bought out of her own pocket. This same teacher has been working tirelessly to raise funds and obtain grants to develope the veg garden.

By 2.30pm slightly wonky wigwams were in place over the broad bean seedlings, the see through planters were also in situ and 6 brightly coloured birdfeeders were hanging from some of the trees surrounding the playground and garden.

The children were understandably proud of their efforts and the parents were having all the improvements pointed out to them at home tme, by ALL the children not just the gardening club.

By 8.30 this morning, the wigwams had been pulled out of the ground, a bag of compost which had been supplied for potato planting had been thrown all over the place and all but one of the birdfeeders had been stolen. The remaining one had been emptied .

Why? What possible reason or enjoyment could they have had for this wanton vandalism? The worst thing is that it is probably older kids who aren't at the school, who are to blame .

The children are understandably upset, as is the teacher who has worked so hard on the garden and now the whole project is in jeopardy . Next Thursday, the children were supposed to be making scarecrows but they'll probably be stolen or destroyed as well.

As the teacher says, the kids were upset enough by the bird feeders being stolen. It's sickening.

Regards, a very saddened
Reet
x

[kirsty b]

Why? never an answer to that one is there..

Poor kids to see all their hard work destroyed by some horrible little herberts who have nothing better to do.

[Jeanied]

Reet that is so upsetting. Sadly a lesson in the real world for the young 'uns. To switch it round to a more positive, can you get the local police to get involved and talk to the children? Sometimes this can be a really good experience for them and the beginnings of a good link with the law.
I think the garden will be reparable - and that is also important for the children - that we do not get defeated by nastiness in our lives!
Get the local press / councillors / MP involved - it could help!
And PM me if you need any seeds!!!!

[binley100]

I agree with what Jeanie said. There's a lot of kids committing senseless acts of vandalism more and more these days. I just can't understand what they get out of it. They'd be the first to complain if someone trashed something that belonged to them.

[flighty1]

So sorry to hear of your problems Reet. I run a school gardening club & we suffered very similar vandalism. Our poly tunnel was broken into & all the kids trays of bedding plants thrown over the floor. We also had a group of youngsters who cut the wire on our duck/chicken pen & broke the necks of my khaki campbells. The hole in the wire allowed the fox to get in and wreak havoc. The police were very good, they sent round two officers who promised to keep an eye on our school farm. Imagine my surprise when a couple of weeks later I got a call from the police telling me they had aprehended three yobs riding on my dexters (little cows) The kids were taken away by the police & although I never heard what happened I never had any more problems. I can only suggest you contact the police & trust they are willing to help you out.

[reetnproper]

Hi guys, thanks for your support.

The police have been contacted by the school and it's to be hoped that they can help deter this type of behaviour. Thankfully our school has fostered a good relationship with the community PC.

As for the garden, it's not the lack of determination that puts it in jeopardy but the funding aspect. As is the nature with certain grants, money is awarded for a particular reason and if this vandalism becomes a regular occurance and certain projects are unable, despite the best efforts of all concerned, to reach fruition then these funding streams could be jeopardised.

I will be there next week helping with whatever job needs doing, whatever happens and we can only hope that this is a one off and that now people are aware of what happened, that the community itself will keep a watchful eye on the grounds.

[ginger ninger]

That's terrible Reet, I agree with all that has been said, like Jeanie I have lots and lots of seeds, if you would like some please don't hesitate to pm me, and they'll be in the next post to you.

[pipscariad]

Just heading off to bed here, but wanted to say how sorry I was to read this, what a horrid thing to happen. I can imagine only too well how the children must have felt, poor things It's so sad when things like this spoil something that is so special, hope they find out who was responsible and manage to prevent it happening again. As someone said, my bet is older kids (probably who have passed through that very school and think of it as an act of vengence against the school itself, and forget it is the children who suffer).

Chin up, hope things get sorted.

[reetnproper]

Thanks for the offer of seeds Ginger Ninger and Jeanie.

Thankfully that's one thing we're not short on as some of the other parents/grandparents have donated/promised quite a range of spare seeds and the teacher has bought a lot as well.

Now all we need are the beds/tubs/pots to put them in but we're getting there.

[sauzee]

Its good to hear that community police have caught some other culprits i wish government or future government would invest in community police.If more people would give them names and information then more would be brought in front of the powers that be.And hopefully send a message to others that someone is always watching
sauzee

[flighty1]

credit where its due our local officers were very helpful & committed to seeing our school farm was kept safe & secure. They had a vested interest because whenever they came to visit they always went away with a few eggs. One of the officers even brought his wife & daughter along to see one of my ewes give birth. The officers were so helpful & still pop in even though I have had to get rid of all my animals.

[Brengirl]

I just cannot put into words the sorrow and disbelief I feel on reading these stories. In cases like this I wonder if CCTV cameras would prove a deterrent

[lez]

I agree low life is to good a description I can think of worse.the trouble is if they are caught they gat a smacked hand and told naughty people and then laugh in your face. as said on another thread a man gets 3 years for falsely selling eggs. there seems to be no sense in the justice system these days.

[Lazgaot]

CCTV may help catch the scumbags, but they'll most likely just wear hats and hoodies and continue to trash the place.

One thing though, broadbeans don't grow up wigwams!

[di]

Little s^!>£s!

I know it's hard to pick yourself up after something like this,we had a few small thefts from our lottie and a shed broken into... felt like giving up in case it happened again,but it seems it was a one off.

Also the kiddies school had some pretty bad vandalism on the playground a couple of years ago....just before spending thousands on a new play area.I think a lot of people were nervous it would become an even more attractive target but two years on and it's not been touched.There's CCTV...whether that's what puts them off or whether it was just that they've done it once and now it's boring I don't know?

Get them kiddies making their Scarecrows and teach them not to let a group of thoughtless eeks put a stop to their fun!
Good Luck!