Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Members ‘demoralised’ as Aberdeenshire men’s shed targeted by vandals again

Inverurie Men's Shed was once again vandalised. Alistair Smith surveys the polytunnel which will cost around £1000 to replace.
(Picture by Colin Rennie)
Inverurie Men's Shed was once again vandalised. Alistair Smith surveys the polytunnel which will cost around £1000 to replace. (Picture by Colin Rennie)

It has repeatedly fallen victim to vandals in recent months.

And now, Inverurie and District Men’s Shed, which opened in 2014 and has more than 100 members, has been targeted again.

The popular Harlaw Road site, behind the soon to be demolished day centre, has been vandalised at least four times in the last year.

At some point between Christmas and New Year, the group’s polytunnel, which is used to grow plants and vegetables in the garden, was ripped open by the culprits and damaged beyond repair.

Those responsible left behind three chocolate bars and a pregnancy test.

Alistair Smith, a trustee of the organisation, said members had become increasingly despondent with every new incident.

He added: “This is now the fourth or fifth time this has happened and it’s been torn so badly we can’t fix it.

“We obviously want to help the community by providing the garden and we have also got quite a lot of members who use the polytunnel.

“And we recently got funding to increase the facilities in the gardening area to allow people to develop their skills in horticulture.

“We want to grow more plants and sell them to raise funds for the shed, but can’t do that now – a lot of the members are totally demoralised by the continuing vandalism.”

The news comes with the charity appealing for help in finding a new home, because it will be forced to move once the centre is mothballed.

Mr Smith said: “We’re going to have to relocate because this site is going to be turned into council offices.

“So we’re desperately looking for another place, which is secure, where we could set up the shed as we have nowhere else to go at the minute.”

Inverurie and District councillor Judy Whyte said she hoped a new location might help tackle the problems the group has suffered.

She added: “It’s very disappointing the men’s shed has been the target of mindless vandalism yet again.

“There’s no doubt it will be very upsetting for the volunteers and users of the facility who put so much effort in.

“Part of the problem is they are stuck next to a derelict building, so hopefully, once they are able to find a more appropriate permanent location, the situation will be improved.”

Meanwhile, police are investigating after vandals daubed graffiti on the constituency office of Ross Thomson, MP for Aberdeen North.

The perpetrators sprayed the word “Tory” and a moustache on a picture of Mr Thomson on his office window on Holburn Street.