Anger as thieves raid community orchard tool store

Andrew Callaghan, community development worker at the Fenland Orchards Project, said the theft had left a lot of people "very angry"

Volunteers at a community orchards project are angry after thieves stole thousands of pounds worth of gardening equipment from a store, a worker has said.

The Fenland Orchards Project, based in Wisbech, said the store was broken into on Saturday and donated equipment had been taken.

Community development worker Andrew Callaghan said thieves had stolen from a "charity project" and people involved were "very angry".

He urged anyone who had information, or had been offered gardening equipment, to contact police.

The Fenland Orchards Project says thieves made off with thousands of pounds worth of equipment

Most of Wisbech is in Cambridgeshire, but Mr Callaghan said the orchard was a few hundred yards inside Norfolk.

He said thieves had made off with between 20 and 30 pieces of equipment, including a donated ride-on mower, two donated lawn mowers, a heavy duty strimmer and a scythe.

The project has given details of what was taken in a social media post.

"A lot of people are very angry," said Mr Callaghan, 59.

"I am very disappointed.

"This obviously took a lot of time and they have stolen from what is a charity project set up for the benefit of the public."

The Fenland Orchards Project said one item taken was a ride-on mower

He said most of the equipment in the store had been taken.

Mr Callaghan said the scythe was his and added: "We had a scything workshop about two years ago - I used it then."

Norfolk police said officers had been called shortly before 11:00 GMT on Saturday.

"A number of tools were stolen including a Dewalt strimmer, radio, and drill with their batteries, and a trailer," said a spokeswoman.

A timeline on the project website explains how it was launched in August 2021, with the first tree planted in October that year.

Online posts explain how the project's aim was to create a "community orchard" using "heritage root stock".

Posts indicated that the project had benefited from National Lottery funding.