It's quite early on Friday morning and my wife (on her way to work) has just texted me to say someone has snapped off one of the two new trees that were planted last year on Killigrew Street by Freeriders. And I can't tell you how sad and disappointed I am to hear it.

I was so pleased to see those two new trees go in last year. I saw the effort it took to put them there. And they were doing so well. A few more years and they would have looked wonderful.

I was equally sad and disappointed a couple of weeks ago to see that horrible scrawl of graffiti all over the front of that nice blue terrace house also on Killigrew.

How drunk or just utterly stupid do you have to be to do this sort of thing?

I just hope that the council have the time and resources to try again with the tree. And I hope that the owner of the blue house has some of the blue paint left.

I guess the dolts responsible will never be bought to book. But I do also hope that maybe, just maybe, as they walk past what they have done, they feel at least a little shame and regret.

Mark Wilkins

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