POLICE are currently making good progress in their inquiries into the wanton damage caused at Lochore Meadows Country Park.

Staff were stunned last Tuesday when they turned up for work to find windows smashed and one of the doors to the Willie Clarke Centre badly damaged by intruders.

There were also two of the floodlights which illuminate the historic Lochore Castle damaged along with a memorial bench.

The intruders smashed four windows of varying size in the new facility and stole a quantity of chocolate.

However, the park centre's CCTV system picked up the intruders and police have been studying the footage while other information had been made available to investigating officers.

The country park is heading for a record year as visitors have flooded into the facility since the start of the season in April and park boss Ian Laing was stunned by the damage caused.

He said: "It has been a great year for the park so far but this was a real downer for all the staff.

"I don't really know if it is the same people who caused the damage at the castle but the total will run to not far short of £10,000.

"It meant us having to close the Willie Clarke Centre for two days in midweek to have running repairs carried out but it is going to take time to get the large display windows repaired that look over the loch."

There was a major cycling event at the Meedies on Saturday and the cafe facility was very busy throughout the day, but the magnificent view from it was somewhat hindered by the damage to the two huge windows.

Added Ian: "The park was simply buzzing on Saturday so no one let the vandalism bother them but clearly we could have done without this.

"However, we have the CCTV footage which is proving very useful to the police so hopefully the inquiries will bear fruit fairly quickly."

There are more activities taking place again this weekend at the Meedies as the autumn season continues and the combination of the excellent summer weather and a number of excellent events have seen the numbers of visitors go through the 700,000 mark.

Concluded Ian: "This vandalism has been an unexpected blow but hopefully we can get the repair work done fairly soon for there are a number of activities going on over the next few weeks."