Yobs attack garden (From Penarth Times)

Yobs attack garden

A PENARTH children's allotment has been completely destroyed by vandals who struck twice in one week.

St Joseph's Primary School, on Sully Road, has suffered two appalling attacks to the pupils' garden in the space of two days.

The first incident occurred on Monday evening, sometime after 6pm, when the children from the summer club had left. The second followed barely 24 hours later.

Shocked head teacher, Maurice Flynn, told the Times how the vandals left a trail of destruction.

He said: "In the first attack, a number of trees were pulled over, a few thin ones snapped off, and one completely uprooted.

"The leeks had all be lifted and thrown around, as well as other produce, such as pears, plums and courgettes which had been trashed.

"We also lost some four-year-old fruit trees through the vandalism.

He added: "It's heartbreaking - they had started to bear fruit."

In the second attack on Tuesday night, the vandals had another go at the trees, and continued to pull out all of the onions from the ground.

The allotment was originally set up in 1996, to provide the children with the opportunity to enjoy horticulture.

Mr Flynn, who has been head teacher at the school for 12 years, explained that the children have often entered the Penarth and Dinas Powys Horticultural Show, which is usually held in September.

He said that in the past, the youngsters had won several prizes for their produce, including one for their herb garden.

The children had been planning to enter the show again this year, but that will now no longer be possible, due to the attack.

He added: "Five months work has been trashed in ten minutes of 'mindless fun'."

Mr Flynn said that the children were extremely upset when they discovered that their allotment had been vandalised, in particular, the Year 4 pupils, aged 8-9 years, who were responsible for looking after it.

Student, Rhys Copeland, 10, who worked on the plot last year, said that he was very angry, sad and annoyed at the damage done.

Mr Flynn maintained that they would 'carry on regardless', despite the fact that it will take weeks of hard work, to restore the allotment to its former glory.

He added: "If we catch anyone trespassing, the police will be informed; we won't condone this."