VOLUNTEERS have been left disheartened after £90 worth of lavender plants have been stolen from Westwood Parish Rooms.

The rooms underwent a refurbishment project in June 2017 where trustees worked to make it a more enjoyable place for the Westwood community.

As part of the project a garden was created on the Farleigh Hungerford Road and 16 lavender plants were planted.

Trustees who work on a volunteer basis at the rooms noticed last week that 13 of the lavender plants had been stolen.

Caroline Philpott, one of the Westwood Parish Rooms trustees, said: “It is really disheartening when you think that the garden all looks nice because of the work of volunteers and it all starts coming into bloom and the plants just disappear.

“The parish room is a charity so they have basically stolen from a charity.

“The value of what has been stolen is about £90 plus the time it took our volunteers to plant them.

“That sort of money is a lot for a charity to lose, and could have be used on something much more important.

“We are thinking of replacing the plants. We noticed last Tuesday that they had been stolen, but since I put it on Facebook some people have said they noticed they were gone at the end of the previous week.

“That Sunday was such revolting weather when we were actually there so perhaps we didn’t look out of the back of the room.”

The incident has been reported to police who are carrying out enquiries and hope to speak to those involved.