THE Friends of Lochore Meadows community group has started a fundraiser to help repair the lights which were destroyed by vandals last month.

Around the beginning of February, vandals cut the wires on several lights which were hung on trees at the entrance to the popular country park.

An investigation into the damage showed that whoever carried out the vandalism had to have climbed the tree before “butchering” the wires with a sharp object, much to the dismay of group members and the wider community.

Now, however, the group has launched a fundraiser following an outcry over the damage with many people declaring their interest in assisting with getting the lights back up and running.

The Times understands the community group were deeply shocked by the cost of the damage, with the repairs bill sitting at just under £2,000, a lot more than they had initially anticipated.

Speaking previously, David McKay, acting chairman of the community group, said: ““We had recently installed along the entrance road to Lochore Meadows Country Park, but now some mindless vandals have damaged the lights beyond repair meaning these will have to be removed and replaced.

“Blachere Illumination kindly inspected the cause of the lights not working before realising the vandalism.

“Friends of Lochore Meadows and Fife Council are working hard to enhance features within the park with a new play for all play area being installed hopefully later on this year pending design approval and community consultations.

“These acts of vandalism are pretty disheartening for all the people involved with the new projects and hopefully we can nip this in the bud pretty quickly.”

To donate to the fundraiser, go to https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/winter-lighting-repair-fund.