Graffiti vandals strike at Spalding nature reserve creating more hassle for volunteers who care for site

A historic bridge in a thriving nature reserve has been defaced in the latest incident of graffiti which is blighting a town.

Volunteers at Vernatt’s Nature Reserve in Spalding say they are disappointed that the site has been targeted by vandals who have sprayed tags onto a bridge and rubbish bins.

Spalding has suffered a number of issues with graffiti in recent weeks with tags appearing on South Holland District Council offices, the Bull and Monkie and street artwork on the former Calthrops site in town.

The nature reserve has been transformed over the last five years from a grot spot to a haven for wildlife along with families and dog walkers thanks to the hard work of volunteers.

Now volunteer Pete Boekestyn is appealing for help from South Holland District Council and the area’s police to help resolve the issue.

He said: “I personally feel like the criminals have all the cards in their hands.

“Things are so hard to prove these days unless you walk around the corner and he has a can in his hands.

“If you see the bridge covered with graffiti it is offputting like it was five years ago when the place with strewn with rubbish and cans.

“If we get a week without any mischief we feel we have done well. If someone has not lit a fire, defecated on the public footpath, tagged bins, knocked over logs in the Peace Garden or snapped branches off the apple trees, we feel like we have had a good week.

“What is grieving me at the moment is the permanent graffiti put on the bridge.

“That is not down to kids that is down to a person who has done it all over Spalding.

“We are impotent to be able to stop this person - several people know who it is.”

Tags and a slogan ‘the way you move’ have been sprayed onto the historic bridge, which is thought to have been part of the Spalding to Boston railway line.

Vandals are thought to have been attacking the bridge in recent weeks with the ‘way you move’ tag appearing over the Bank Holiday weekend.

Further problems have been reported in recent weeks with phallic symbols and Nazi swastika appearing on the bins.

Pete said: “Our guys have been out there clearing it off - we would be better employed rather than clearing up this rubbish. There are other jobs to make it tidy for people.

“Occasionally a community warden will go down there but they have more chance of winning the lottery than catching the vandal.”

Volunteers, whose average age is over 60, are unable to clear off the graffiti due the location along with not having the equipment.

But despite the problems and the other disgusting issues, volunteers will not stop caring for the reserve.

Pete said: “After five years we have seen everything or we think we have. We are not deterred just disappointed and dismayed.

“We are clearing up human faeces on a regular basis - it is unreal that people in this day and age are that disgusting and some are not shy as they’ll do it on the footpath.

“You should be able to just walk over the bridge and enter the reserve and you don’t need political messages. It’s not art - it’s vandalism.”

Police have previously stated that they are taking the graffiti issue in town very seriously but said CCTV footage of the incident at Calthrops had no ‘evidential value’.

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