Gardeners down tools following repeated breakins.

‘SICKENED’: Brechin community group to walk away from volunteer project in disgust after thefts

Community gardeners have downed tools after allegations of “foul play” and repeated break-ins at their allotments.

The volunteers said they are giving up a community allotment in Brechin after sheds at the Drumachlie Park site were robbed for a second time.

The group had been hoping to transform the allotments, where they have been growing fruit and vegetables for local use since 2014, into a community orchard.

The latest break-in, which saw thieves make off with a strimmer and power tools after forcing their way into sheds, has proven the final straw for the hardworking group.

Local barber Jocky Mclean, who has also helped to set up the new boxing club in the town, said the group have been left “sickened” by the thefts.

He said: “We have been plagued by thefts and foul play. We had plans to turn the allotment into a community orchard but we are now sickened.

“We will now remove items and walk away.”

He said the sheds had been broken into last year, when “high-value” items such as a rotavator and tools were taken.

He said: “Last year was our rotavator and a lot of tools and this year it was all our power tools and strimmer that belongs to my brother and other garden stuff from the big shed.

“We were away to get ready to turn it into an orchard to let the community have something different.”

The project is separate from the Brechin Community Garden, which works from a second allotment site at nearby Montrose Street.

Jill Scott, chairman of Brechin Community Council, has worked at the Drumachlie Park allotments since work began in 2014.

She said the allotment had produced 10 boxes of fruit and veg, which were then given away free to people in the community.

“It was pretty amazing. We set out the boxes and it was work around food poverty, because veg is expensive.”

“The orchard would have meant less maintenance for the small team.

“It’s a massive amount of work and we have struggled for volunteers. Between that and these latest break ins, we’re done. We’re walking away.”

“We have put up with this kind of nonsense for some years.”

She said an individual had admitted cutting the padlocks off the sheds last year, but there had not been enough evidence to charge them with a crime.

Sheds at the Drumachlie Park site have been targeted for a second time.