The chair of a volunteer group in Salford has branded thieves desecrating flower decorations on Langworthy Road as ‘utter low lives’.
Jenny Sowerby, who is the Chair and Coordinator of Seedley and Langworthy in Bloom and a member of the group for 14 years said: “They are utter low lives.
“I think they think it is the council that plants them, but it’s a community group made up of a small number of people who find the finance and put it there every year.
The group have been brightening up Seedley and Langworthy with aesthetic flower displays for 14 years, but have noticed a sharp increase in problems recently, Jenny continued: “We’ve had the odd plant taken in the past but this year it’s been unbelievable.
“Barriers have been stripped out where the whole of the plants have gone that we’ve had to replace.”
Charlotte Bates, 38, a member of the group for 8 years said: “It’s massively disheartening for the group.
“We’re made up mostly of female volunteers over the age of 75, no one gets paid for it.”
The current theft couldn’t come at a worse time for the group, who have adjudicators from Britain in Bloom coming to inspect on Wednesday 27 July.
The group regularly enter flower competitions and have won a prize in each of the last 14 years but with the ongoing theft, this is under threat and Jenny said the group are working round the clock to repair the damage: “We’ll put them back as best we can and hopefully they will be there tomorrow and if it happens after that, it’s with the lap of the gods because we can do no more.
The aesthetic display usually consists of 90 barriers, with two inserts in each barrier, which Jenny adds doesn’t come cheap: “It costs £14,000 to put it all in place every year.
“Now we have to find extra money and extra plants, when the group is getting older it is a big job.”
“It’s just unbelievable what’s been going on.
“We’re all really upset about it because we just don’t know who it is that’s been out at two in the morning.
“The whole project is very precious to us after all these years but this might have to be our last year because we can’t cope with it anymore.
“If anybody sees anything, please tell the police and they can contact us – I just hope we can find out who it is.”
