Volunteers make appeal over stolen rose bushes
‘It’s soul-destroying that someone is coming in to steal them’
VOLUNTEERS at a Govan memorial park are devastated over the theft of more than 20 rose bushes since last year. The community around Elder Park is considering setting up security cameras to stop the plants from being pinched.
More than 140 of them were planted as part of the restoration of the space last year by Friends of Elder Park.
From last summer until last week, however, 24 of them have been dug out.
Katharine McNab, committee member and volunteer, said: “At that point, I put a Facebook post up to say that these plants were not planted by the council but a charity and the work is done by volunteers.
“This alerted the people because Govan is very much a community. They were appalled by what was happening.
“We, then, at the start of May, bought another 110 rose bushes and filled the beds, including replacing the ones that have been stolen.
“Me and other volunteers now patrol the garden with our dogs and we thought we had knocked this on the head, as
no more bushes were getting stolen.
“Then, lo and behold, last Saturday, me and one of the other
volunteers noticed that one of them has been dug out of the ground and removed.”
The rose bushes cost £11 each, and the charity is appalled by the vandalism, which creates a financial strain and undermines the volunteers’ hard work. Ms McNab added: “It’s a kick in the teeth to all the volunteers. “We are all devastated and upset at the fact that we are giving up our Sunday afternoons to give everybody a nice space to enjoy, people are commenting on how nice it is looking, appreciating all the work that is being done.
“It’s soul-destroying that someone is coming in and stealing them.
“We are actually now in the discussion of getting cameras installed to stop this from happening because the majority of the people of Govan are thoroughly disgusted and appalled by this.” The group, which is yet to report the incidents to police, is encouraging local residents to keep an eye on the park as it works to combat the thefts.