The Bloomin' Great Tragedy of Cayton

Resolute villagers have been left 'devastated' by a crass, vindictive and most horrid act. Cayton, near Scarborough, is a regular finalist in the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom final. Their place is dangling by a wispy shoot of Convolvulus. Sabotage is a word that is on the lips of many villagers.

Titchmarsh has expressed his fury
of this indiscriminate slaughter

Their proud blooms have withered in the face of a vicious assault of weed-killer. The culprit or culprits, remain at large. Burgeoning colours and life has been replaced by crumpled Chrysanthemums and death-stricken Dahlias that adorned this once colourful and proud village. Police described this heinous act as being 'calculating and malicious'.

Residents first noticed that their shrubs were dying two weeks ago. Test on a white substance show that the poison used was sodium chlorate, a substance that is now banned.

The villagers were not feeling glad all over

Les Hutchinson, The chairman of Cayton in Bloom group is defiant. They shall still compete.

He went on to say, "A great deal of time, effort and expense goes into Cayton in Bloom and the organisers are quite rightly angered and upset by what has happened.

"We are appealing for any information that could assist the investigation to identify the culprit.

"Someone out there knows who is responsible. Please, do the right thing and report them, either direct to the police or anonymously via Crimestoppers."

Good luck to them.

I shall spare you the details of what they did to Mrs Bickerstaff's Victoria Sponge.


Quote of the Day: "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mahatma Gandhi

Word of the Day: Dehisce - to burst open, as the pod of a plant