A TREE planted three weeks ago in memory of a Sale park volunteer has been snapped in half by ‘mindless vandals’.

The Friends of Worthington Park planted the Cedar of Lebenham on March 10 in memory of Sheila Dingwall, the former treasurer of the group.

But last Friday (March 25) just two weeks after it was planted, they were horrified to discover that the tree had been destroyed - and that a newly erected plaque for the park’s newly opened outdoor gym had been smashed and set alight.

Nona Dougherty, co-chair of the Friends of Worthington Park, said the friends had all been very upset.

“I was horrified, not everybody knows why the tree was planted but it wasn’t just an ordinary tree, it was a memoriam to our old treasurer who did a lot of work for the park.

“It makes you feel a bit dejected, you try and make a place nice and it just takes an idiot to come and do that. It was just a wicked thing to do.

“It’s mindless vandalism and we are all so disappointed, it is so sad that people do things like that,” she said.

Councillor Barry Brotherton, who helped open the outdoor gym in January with MP Paul Goggins and Councillor Jane Baugh, said it was ‘very disappointing’ and repairs to the plaque and a new tree would cost several hundred pounds.

“A lot of the work that has been done on the park is for the community and it is disheartening when things like this happen,” he said.