Anger and disappointment has been expressed in Freuchie after “mindless” vandals ripped out tress that were recently planted by local Cub Scouts.
Retired chairman of Freuchie in Flower Fiona Towns said she was upset to receive a phone call on Sunday morning informing her that eight trees, planted along the verge on the way into Freuchie from Bridgend Garden Centre, had been ripped out and tossed into adjoining fields.
The Freuchie community councillor said the destruction apparently took place under cover of darkness on Saturday night and was “completely incomprehensible”.
“We have no idea at all who would do such a thing,” she told The Courier.
Fiona explained that 20 Bird Cherry trees were acquired by the community council before the start of lockdown when a Freuchie resident, whose employers, CGI, have donated trees to communities all over the UK, came to a meeting with an offer of trees.
They were potted up and tended carefully for seven months before being planted on the evenings of October 28 and November 4 with the help of Freuchie resident Catriona Nimmo and her local Cub pack with assistance from parents.
“The Cubs thoroughly enjoyed the activity and there was a lot of chat about the fact that they will eventually be able to tell their own children that they planted these beautiful flowering cherry trees which are presently only tiny saplings,” she said.
Not to be outdone by the vandals, on Sunday morning, Fiona managed to climb into the horses’ field and eventually found and retrieved all eight trees which Catriona, along with Fiona’s husband and herself, have replanted and put new stakes in.
However, her main hope now is that even if the culprit(s) cannot be found, the response will at least deter someone from doing it again.
“Quite a number of residents passed as we were replanting in the rain,” she added.
“Word had clearly travelled fast, as it tends to in a village, and they were expressing their anger and disappointment that such a thing could happen in a nice village like Freuchie.
“It is particularly disappointing in these difficult times as Freuchie in Flower have had a huge amount of community support to get our planters and tubs planted up around the village after we had to make a last-minute cancellation of our usual summer bedding plants , due to the lockdown.”
