by Alan Quick

YOUNG people during Half Term are believed to have ripped a number of slates from the roof of the cob shelter on Sandford Millennium Green.

Linda Lever, trustee and maintenance co-ordinator a the Millennium Green called it “distressing vandalism”.

She added: “Just two years ago, we had the slate capping to our cob shelter repaired at a cost of more than £600.

“It is not possible to insure for damage on the Green and all funds for this and other work have to be raised on a voluntary basis.

“I visited the Green after a couple of weeks illness and found that there was extensive damage to the slates which had obviously been done deliberately.

“This is very distressing and I don’t see how we are going to pay for further repairs. It’s hard to face something like this when our volunteers spend a great deal of time trying to keep the Green looking good for all to enjoy.”

Chairperson Charlie Werner said that the cob shelter was completed in the Autumn of 2000.

He explained: “We were originally going to have a roof but that proved too expensive and we decided to just cap it.

“It is so sad that someone would want to rip off some of the slates.

“We can’t, as a community, afford to spend money repairing the slates yet we don’t want it to fall apart.”

Mr Werner said he hoped the young person or persons who did it would come forward and, to make some recompense, help by doing some voluntary work at the Millennium Green.

He said if the person or persons did this, they would recognise how important the Green was as an asset to the community and those who walk it regularly from Sandford to Crediton.

He explained that monthly work days take place at the Green, the next being leaf clearing on the path from 10am to 12 noon on Sunday, December 6.

Volunteers would be welcome and are asked to take along a rake, gloves and a stiff brush and have some fun.

Recently volunteers collected bags of apples from the trees at the green which were sold to Sandford Orchards in aid of funds.

If you can help the police with their inquiries into the damage at the Millennium Green, contact them on 101 and the crime reference is CR/078435/15.