Thieves steal crops grown for the elderly (From Bucks Free Press)
Send your news, photos and videos by texting bucksfreepress to 80360 or email
Thieves steal crops grown for the elderly
9:20am Friday 21st September 2012 in News By Dave Peters
Gooseberries were among crops taken
THIEVES have devastated allotment gardeners by taking crops they have been growing for the elderly.
Tenants at the Hanging Hill Allotment site in Marlow have arrived at their plots to find plants dug up and bushes stripped bare overnight.
Site coordinator Sylvia Miller said: "It’s terrible. Last year we took bags of crops each week to Age Concern but this year we haven’t been able to.
"Last year we were dropping off stuff every week to them and they were cooking meals for the elderly with them.
"It’s like someone is watching us. Every time something is ready to be harvested we are beaten to it. It’s a huge problem.
"It happens most years that some things go missing but this year it has been remarkable. It is not just a few things, it’s whole crops going.
"The pleasure you get from growing your own vegetables is indescribable. When you go up there and every single one is gone you feel devastated."
It doesn’t look like the work of opportunists either.
Prickly gooseberry bushes, which would take a couple of hours to pluck, have been completely stripped, tall plum trees left naked while cabbages, runner beans and other veg have also disappeared.
