Ben79
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Vandalism
Vandalism leaves canoe club stranded
A TRAILER used by a local youth canoe club to get their members to competitions has been vandalised and pushed into the river.
The trailer, which is used by the Adventure Centre’s youth canoe club, was stored at the centre’s building in the King George V Playing Fields in Melksham. The owners believe it was vandalised during the night of Sunday 18th February. The vandals smashed the lights, pulled off the mud guards and knocked out parts of the wooden base before pushing it down into the river.
Kevin Bowerbank, a trustee of Melksham Adventure Centre and coach of the youth canoe club said, “The trailer had only been down here a week. It is on loan to us from the British team as we have so many potential team members.”
“The youth canoe club has 60 members, aged eight to 18. Fifteen of our members take part in competitions. Five of these are national youth champions, and two of our members are on the British team.”
He said the canoeists will miss at least three events as they will not be able to travel for around a month until the trailer, which carries 12 canoes, is repaired. “There is around £300 to £400 worth of damage,” he said. “There would also be the cost of lifting it out of the river, but Mark Freeman at the Sahara Plant has kindly offered to use his crane to lift the trailer out of the river free of charge.”
He said the they were hoping to store the trailer at the Adventure Centre, but are now too worried about it getting vandalised again. “We will be looking for a company that can store the trailer,” he said.
He added that it is a shame young people are spoiling activities for those their own age. “It is sad because it is obviously youngsters that have done it. And they can’t say that they do this because they are bored because this club is open to anyone, they would be more than welcome to come and take part.”
“A lot of kids are dedicated to what they are doing. The kids in the canoe club that take part in competitions train four times a week, and the general members have pool sessions on a Wednesday and trips most weekends.”
He added that to get the canoe down to the water must have taken a lot of effort. “It took four grown men to get it where it was, so it must have been quite a few teenagers to do it. They must have thought it was fun just to chuck it in the river. They must have seen it as a challenge. But other kids are going to suffer.”
If you can offer the Adventure Centre a place to store their trailer, which is 20ft by 10ft and 8ft high, please call Kevin Bowerbank on 01225 790112.
Above: Kevin Bowerbank, coach of the Adventure Centre’s youth canoe club, and the vandalised trailer.
Do you think there's a problem in our town with vandalism, or is it no worse than anywhere else? Do the young people in Melksham have enough to do? Let us know your thoughts...
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3/1/2007, 3:52 pm
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springchicken
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Re: Vandalism
I dont really know whether its worse than anywhere else but I think its incredibly sad that people do this,and the excuse that they have nothing better to do or are bored is a pitiful one and not an excuse at all,its about respect and the lack of it instilled in these "youths"
I dont know it anybody saw the damage done at the st michaels site playground of the manor school,but it was digusting,paint strewn everywhere,fences and plants broken or damaged.....even more disturbing in my eyes is that only two people came forward(I believe it was two) to report the disturbance and the damage being done....this is a highly populated area and thae damage done would have taken some time and made a noise and nobody reported it.....I think its incredibly sad that we now seem to live in a "dont care"society,where people just walk on by and look the other way.
To be honest and going back to the original point,even if in Melksham there were loads of activities for youngsters every night of the week ,which actually if you look there is plenty going on for those that want it,you would still get the few brain dead idiots who are determined to spoil it for everyone else no matter what.
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3/12/2007, 11:16 am
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Hyacinth bucket
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Re: Vandalism
I would like to point out that the vandalism at the former St Michaels School was reported to the police by more than two people,as i was one of them,over the last few years i have always rang the police,sometimes on a nightly basis when there have been things going on in the school grounds that shouldn't be or the alarm has been going off,it is not that we don't care and walk on by,but when you find the police are called,sometimes taking up to 20 minutes to get to the school,by this time the louts have been in done the damage and left the scene,i feel some people don't want to get involved as the louts of today will cause damage to there property,which i must say has happened to my family,and its not very nice,but why should these louts get away with damaging schools etc,and just walking away!!!!!!
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4/5/2007, 1:44 pm
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