Glasgow church hit out after community garden VANDALISED

The polytunnel and wider area of the Garthamlock and Craigend Parish Church community garden were broken into and damaged on Friday, February 3.

Church elder and community garden volunteer Jillian Reilly believes a group of youths are responsible for the damage. She claims they broke various belongings in the polytunnel, including plastic chairs and bins, and they jumped on and broke the chicken fence. She also said they set fire to a book and left cigarette ends, wrappers and vapes over the property.

Jillian Reilly, church elder and community garden volunteer, said: "The whole thing is really quite disheartening, especially when people are doing this in their own area.

"I think, psychologically, something like this takes its toll on volunteers who work hard to present something to the community and then someone comes along and they destroy it.

"It's taken a lot of hours and unpaid work to create this garden, it's just really disheartening."

The garden is used as a public space by schools, nurseries and locals to grow produce and plant.

The garden has previously seen the growth of onions, courgettes, potatoes, and various fruits, which local businesses and people have been able to consume and use.

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The facility is also used as a space to support local's mental health, by offering a place for people to get out of the house and get fresh air.

However, now with the recent damage to the community space, the church is having to add extra safety precautions, including putting a padlock on the polytunnel, which will restrict easier access to the gardens for locals. 

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Jillian hopes that these new measurements will stop people from trespassing into the garden in future, but is saddened that such restrictions will be enforced. 

As well as adopting safety measures, the church is also having to fork out a chunk of cash to repair the garden.

Jillian said: "It's a lot of money to replace the things that have been lost.

"To deal with this damage, we're probably looking at a couple of hundred pounds.

"This is money that as a charity, we find really difficult to get back, because a church itself is totally reliant on the funds that come in from the church members and volunteers, and the clubs who come in here and pay a hall let."

As well as the church, members of the community are also hurt by the act of vandalism. 

After posting the news to Facebook, locals stood in angry and upset solidarity with the church. 

One user wrote, "Very sad, they should be ashamed of themselves." 

While another commented, "Disgraceful behaviour, a lot of people have put time and effort into this great project." 

Jillian has blamed the lack of facilities in the area for leading to these spouts of vandalism in the community. 

She said: "I think the lack of facilities has led to kids going back to old habits that they used to have.

"In boredom, a select few have resorted to things like this because there is nothing in this area.

"I think that has a big impact on how kids behave, because if there was something there that would stop them from hanging around polytunnels and setting fires to things, they wouldn't be resorting to vandalism."

You can find the Garthamlock and Craigend Parish Church Facebook HERE