A St Andrews volunteer has described vandalism to a community floral display as “soul destroying”.
Marysia Denyer, a member of St Andrews in Bloom, said members of the group were devastated after vandals toppled nine planters in the town’s harbour area earlier in the week.
It is believed the rampage took place between Monday evening and Tuesday morning and police are now said to be investigating the matter.
Mrs Denyer said: “People go to a lot of trouble.
“Fortunately the judges for Beautiful Fife and Beautiful Scotland had already been, but the harbour area was one that we really wanted to uplift this year and a lot of hard work was put into the displays.
“People give up their time and want the town to look lovely and attractive.”
Members of the group were informed of the vandalism early on Tuesday morning after the owner of a local cafe spotted the damage.
The planters had only been in place for a matter of weeks ahead of the arrival of judges for this year’s Beautiful Scotland and Beautiful Fife awards.
Last year, St Andrews in Bloom secured the coveted VisitScotland Award for Tourism at the Beautiful Scotland awards for the quality of the group’s floral displays.
Adamant the damage must have been caused deliberately, Mrs Denyer said this incident was the worst she could recall since she joined the group.
“The planters were fixed with jubilee clips and would have taken force to topple over,” she said.
“We have had something similar in place at the bus station and never had anything like this happen before, so it was unlikely to be the wind that has done it.
“I have been a member of St Andrews in Bloom for five or six years, and while we’ve had the odd overturned planter or plant pinched, we’ve never had anything quite as bad as this happen to my knowledge.
“It is very disheartening – soul destroying.”