YOUNGSTERS at a Pinvin school have been left devastated after their wendy playhouse was smashed apart and burnt by heartless vandals.
Children from Pinvin Community Pre-school found out their beloved Forest School playhouse, based at the allotments near Main Street, was destroyed when police visited the school last Monday (January 16) to break the news, after a local resident discovered the damage on Saturday (January 14).
The extent of the damage to the wooden structure has left it unsafe and out of bounds until money can be raised to repair, or even replace it.
The wendy house is a very important part of the pre-school and is used by pupils as young as two-years-old, to learn about the environment and wildlife.
Bobby Pearson, deputy manager at the school, said: “They playhouse has been vandalised before, but not on this scale.
“The walls have been pushed in and the decking area has had a hole burnt into it. It’s unsafe to use and will take at least four to five weeks to repair.
“We have a lovely group of children and they were absolutely devastated to see what had happened.
“We’ll have to rebuild their confidence in visiting the allotments once it’s repaired.
“There is no reason why someone would want to damage a children’s playhouse. It’s silly really.
“Staff and parents have been left disgusted and as we’re a small charity pre-school, we don’t have the money to repair the damage. We’re going to have to find ways to fund-raise the money.”
Hana Malins, chair of the school committee, said: “The children are gutted as you can imagine. They’ve seen the damage and understand it’s been vandalised, but don’t understand why and we can’t answer that.
“It’s horrendous children think this is acceptable. It’s not fair to break stuff that doesn’t belong to them. Why should our children be punished for what they’ve done.
“Pinvin is a small village community, so we’re not saying others can’t use the area, just please respect it.”
A spokesperson for West Mercia Police said: “Police were called to a park near Main Street in Pinvin to reports of youths damaging a playhouse at around 4pm on Saturday (January 14).
“Officers attended and found the playhouse had been subjected to damage over a period of time and was in a state of disrepair, but it was not clear when the most recent damage had been caused.
“A group of four teenage youths were spoken to at the location and the local Safer Neighbourhood Team has been liaising with the Parish Council regarding the matter.”
Anyone with information is urged to call police on 101, quoting incident number 431s of January, 14.
