Despair As Stone Seat Goes Missing Days After Being Delivered

Published on: 27 Apr, 2013
Updated on: 27 Apr, 2013

Members of a community project on Bellfields Green, along with local residents, are deeply saddened after discovering that one of several stones seats disappeared overnight on Thursday, days after being delivered.

Some of the new stone seats on Bellfields Green. One like this has disappeared before it could be concreted in.

The seats (which look like giant pebbles) had only been delivered last week as part of an ongoing project to rejuvenate the Moggy Pond and surrounding area.

The chairman of the Bellfields Greenspace Project, Garry Jones, who is also the area’s community safety warden, said: “After all the hard work that’s gone into the project over the past four years it is devastating to have one of the seats removed within days of delivery.

“We knew there was a risk they could be moved so planned to concrete the seats in but given everyone involved are volunteers we had to wait until we could get enough people together to do the job – in fact we planned to do it the very morning we found one was gone.”

A good deal of hard work has been done by volunteers to improve the area around the Moggy Pond at Bellfields.

Nikki King, local resident and another member of the project added: “Everyone locally is commenting on how great the pond area is looking now the work’s almost complete, so to know that someone has gone out of their way to ruin this for local residents is so galling.

“The seats weigh a good half a tonne each, so it’s not like someone could pick one up and walk away after a spur-of-the-moment decision, they would have needed at least two or three people to move it.”

Members of the project now wonder whether the stone seat has not actually been removed from the green, but has been rolled into the pond.

Responses to Despair As Stone Seat Goes Missing Days After Being Delivered

John Schluter Reply

April 27, 2013 at 8:16 pm

So the ‘seats’ weigh half a tonne each.

They are near a pond.

One goes missing.

There are ‘possibly’ people in the area who care not for the community.

Surely no need to bother Scotland Yard?
Shirley and Brian West Reply

April 27, 2013 at 9:26 pm

I am so sorry to here this news after all Nikki King’s hard work. She must be feeling very demoralised. I saw the stones on Tuesday evening and the pond and grounds were really taking shape. I hope those responsible for this wicked deed may have let one of those stones slip and fall on their toes.

I will give Nikki a big hug when I see her.

Shirley West BEM
Angela Gunning Reply

April 28, 2013 at 2:51 pm

I’m really shocked at such vandalism. What an awful, stupid and anti-social thing to do. Dreadful news.

The stones were there on the green on Saturday morning.

I too am a member of the Green Space Committee, and know how hard Nikki and Gary have worked to make this project a success. Only on Monday last week we were discussing how to secure the stones into the ground to make it impossible to move them.

Angela Gunning, is a borough councillor for Stoke ward.
Stephen Thair Reply

May 2, 2013 at 7:45 am

Perhaps one of the local dive clubs would like to volunteer to search the pond?

It’s a good dark water training exercise.