Flowers stolen from charity 'like it was a buffet'

A thief helped himself to hundreds of pounds worth of flowers like "it was a buffet", bosses at a charity farm have said.

About 40 flowers were taken from Stonebridge City Farm, in St Anns, Nottingham, during the early hours of Thursday.

Chief executive Rick Harrington described the theft as "devastating".

"It's incredibly sad because this is a community asset and you are taking from the community," he said.

Harrington added: "We are trying to tidy the farm up, make it look better and we are starting at the front.

"This is the first thing we have done, so it is devastating.

"It would appear that it was a calculated thing, it wasn't spur of the moment."

Harrington said the farm had been inundated with donations since it happened and they want to use the money to upgrade their CCTV cameras.

"The response from the community has been wonderful, ever since we put a post out on Facebook people have been very kind," he said.

"It's been overwhelming, so we don't want to let the behaviour of one person spoil what has actually turned out to be a really supportive event for us."

Horticulturist Miriam Lowe, 57, who works as a gardener for the farm, said primroses and shrubs worth just over £200 had been taken.

"The shrubs would have continued to grow over many years, [I'm] just disappointed really, that somebody would choose to do that," she said.

"The primroses were fully grown, it was quite colourful."

However Lowe said the community response to the theft had been "amazing" and they were hoping to replant the flowers over the next couple of weeks.

"We are definitely going to be back bigger and better," she added.

Nottinghamshire Police said it planned to contact the charity over the incident.

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