‘Heartbreak’ over damaged benches
ACOMMUNITY is “heartbroken” after callous vandals damaged three new benches in a popular East End park. Police were called to the scene on Friday evening when a “quickthinking” dog walker spotted that the seats had been deliberately knocked over and yanked out of their foundations by careless yobs in Dennistoun’s Alexandra Park.
Members of the Friends of Alexandra Park community group were alerted to the damage and were able to move benches to a safe place to save any more damage from happening.
It is understood that the seats were placed in the park just a few months ago and have been enjoyed by park users since then.
Those from the area have hit out at the mindless vandalism. Jaqui Tucker said: “I was in the park a few evenings ago and admiring all the lovely new benches. What’s wrong with some folk?”
Maureen McGee added: “Awful that they can’t leave things alone. The new benches are lovely and many people will enjoy sitting on them.”
Ann Jenkins, secretary of Friends of Alexandra Park, said she was “heartbroken” when she found out about the damage.
She said: “People are so disappointed about this. The park means a lot to so many people in the area.
“We’ve done a lot of work in the park recently such as pond clean ups and litter picks. It took a lot of hard work to get the benches to the area and it took weeks of trying to pick the right benches.
“To see all that hard work destroyed in the matter of minutes is just heartbreaking.”
The group remains positive that it will be able to restore the benches and hope to replace them.
Ann added: “This won’t stop us. It just makes us more determined to carry on the good work we are doing.”
Police Scotland are currently investigating the incident.
A spokeswoman for the force said: “Inquiries are ongoing following a report that a number of benches were vandalised at Alexandra Park on Friday, January 29, 2021.”