VOLUNTEERS of a community woodland, planted with the help of hundreds of Andover schoolchildren, have spoken of their “heartbreak” after vandals left a trail of destruction following a drink fuelled party.

Supporters of Andover Trees United say the “thoughtless” group littered broken bottles, ripped up dozens of sapling stakes and used wooden seats to set a large fire at their site in Harmony Woods, Enham Alamein.

Although trustees and volunteers of the charity say they “absolutely welcome” residents to use the area, including those responsible for the damage, they are pleading with users to be responsible and clean up their mess.

James Nash, trustee, said: “I think the disappointing thing for me is that litter’s been left all over the place, smashed bottles and broken glass and that’s a little bit selfish.

“Would they do that in their back garden, I think not.

“People have given up their time to plant these trees for the community and to undo all of that is very disrespectful and I think it’s a lack of awareness, and that’s something we’ll be looking to address.”

Sending a message to the vandals, Mr Nash, a children’s author and artist, added: “They’re absolutely welcome on the site, but do us a favour and pick up your rubbish, and any other rubbish, and take it away.”

Andover Trees United, who have a core membership of around 20 volunteers, aim to plant 10,000 trees during the creation of the public woodland area.

The group work in partnership with 25 local schools and various youth groups to help young people engage in the project.

As well as ATU representatives, schools have also expressed their dismay over the damage caused.

Gail Fraser, learning support assistant for Roman Way Primary School, is one of the school’s staff members who liaises with the trust.

She said: “It’s heartbreaking.

“The sad thing is we don’t mind people using the area, we do mind them damaging it.

“We just want people to use the area responsibly and the whole point of Harmony Woods is for people to use it.

“No one’s excluded from using it, we just want people to leave it as they found it.”

Portway Junior School’s headteacher, Tim Deery, also found the incident “terrible”.

He said: “Harmony Woods is a real community initiative, not only involving community groups but people from around the town.

“It’s a real shame when others spoil the hard work of so many people.

“But the important thing is we won’t let them get us down and we hope it gets rebuilt soon.”

The charity started in 2011 and began planting trees in Harmony Woods a year later.

Richard Rowles, chair of trustees for Andover Trees United, said: “It’s always a bit heartbreaking when people do good things for the town and then other people make things difficult.

“It’s not very good for morale when people give up their free time for the community and people damage it.

“We’ve also had people throwing logs and stuff into the pond and previously the small wicker shelter has been damaged.

“It doesn’t take that long to fix, but it’s work that could be put into existing work for the charity.”

Mr Rowles believes the incident involved more than one person and suspects they could possibly have been bored children.

He denied there was drug paraphernalia after checking the makeshift campfire.