A ‘fantastic’ forest school has been repeatedly trashed, leaving its organiser ‘on edge’ and fearful for her safety.
Helen Wilson, 36, of Greystones, runs Little Puddle People, a forest school at the Nature’s Nest site just off Fulwood Road, which has recently been subjected to repeated acts of vandalism by teenagers, including the smashing of equipment into “thousands of pieces” and the burning of bug hotels.
Mrs Wilson said: “I’m so on edge when I arrive. I’m so on edge when I’m coming to work. Am I going to find someone here? What am I going to do if I find someone here? Am I going to be safe as a woman working on my own in the woods?”
The initial incident occurred just over a month ago but the ‘special space’, which has supported SEN learning for four years, has been wrecked as recently as 24 February.
Mrs Wilson said it has left children disheartened and unable to fathom why someone would choose to damage an area they ‘absolutely adored’.
A mirrorball, which was especially treasured by the children, was also set ablaze, causing the polystyrene inside to have ‘melted over everything’.
Mrs Wilson added: “I’ve been working solely outdoors for over 10 years now, and this is the hardest winter I’ve ever worked through.”
The situation has been reported to Police who advised that Wilson leave a letter in the tent explaining how ‘essential’ this space is for children, in the hope that it would prevent future damage.
However, the individuals, who are yet to be identified, responded by tearing up the letter and painting profanities on a storage cupboard.
Mrs Wilson issued a plea to teenagers around the area, having said: “I was a kid that was mucking about in the park, you know, I did things that I probably shouldn’t have done.
“But now as … someone who is working so hard … to put food on the table for my family, for me to come to work every day fearful of what I’m going to find and having to use money that I’ve not got to replace things that are broken. You’ve got to just grow up at some point and … see the bigger picture.”
