PALMER Gardens staff have been left devastated after thieves broke into the Trowbridge charity and stole some of their Christmas lights just days before their annual lights switch-on event.

The Trowbridge garden centre was alerted to the theft last Sunday evening after discovering that over 40 metres worth of lights had been cut away from a fence – with the bill for replacement lights expected to top £1,000.

Emma Black, training manager at Palmer Gardens, said: “At first we thought how could someone do this and then after we tried to source replacement lights from our suppliers, we discovered that the initial cost of £300 would in fact be around £1,200 because they don’t make the lights anymore.

“It has been hard because it is not just Palmer Gardens who felt the impact of what happened but the students we have here as well.”

The annual lights switch-on, which has been running for over 10 years at the garden centre, will be held tomorrow and will feature a new addition to this year’s festivities including a Santa’s grotto which will be open every weekend until Christmas.

Ms Black added that she cannot comprehend why people would target the charity as it is widely known that Palmer Gardens helps disabled and disadvantaged people to gain skills to get into work.

She said: “To begin with, a lot of us were in disbelief because we didn’t know how or why someone would do such a thing and then afterwards we just felt gutted. To someone else, it is just a set of lights but to us it represents what we are doing and who we are doing with.

“We have been putting up these lights for six weeks and a lot of work has gone into it so it’s just devastating that someone has come along and stolen them when all we are doing is working with the community.

“Despite the theft we aren’t going to let it ruin the event which promises to be the biggest and best event we’ve ever had.”

The Shaw Trust, which is the overarching national charity that runs Palmer Gardens, said the lights display have been at the centre of the annual attraction and the money that will go towards replacing the lights would have gone towards funding a new learner break hut at the centre.

The lights switch-on starts at 6pm tomorrow.