A Tidy Towns group in County Waterford has been left devastated by the theft of all their equipment.
Members of Stradbally Tidy Towns made the discovery at their shed in the village yesterday (Monday) morning.
"Two lawnmowers, a new strimmer, hegdecutters, a leaf blower are all gone," explained Assistant Secretary Margo Crowley,
"This is everything that we need to use every day to keep going in Tidy Towns. We invest all our prize winnings into equipment and we have people on CE schemes who need this equipment to do their every day work."
Stradbally Tidy Towns is one of the most successful such groups in County Waterford and one of the longest established. Margo told WLR that the shocking discovery came following a hugely positive weekend for the village.
"We had a dedication ceremony for the Fr Condon memorial bench," she explained. "We were absolutely delighted, there were lots of visitors and everybody was in good form. It's such a blow after having such a good weekend to discover all our equipment is gone. This was the last thing we were expecting to happen."
She added: "This is everything we work for and in 42 years we never had anything taken. For this to happen is unbelievable."
Gardaí in Tramore Garda Station are investigating and anyone with any information is asked to make contact.
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