Thieves cart off school’s whole pumpkin crop

A school’s entire crop of pumpkins being grown by children was taken by thieves.

Pupils at Beaulieu Village Primary School in the New Forest, Hants, tended 30 pumpkins at a nearby garden centre. The crop was to be used at the school’s harvest festival and then donated to a food bank, but the children were devastated when thieves stole them overnight.

Patrick Fairweather, who runs Fairweather’s Garden Centre, said the pupils were “very sad”.

Generous social media users have offered to buy replacement pumpkins – with one offer coming from as far afield as Canada.