Information is wanted on who stole this large stack of firewood from the Pukeora Forest of Memories near Waipukurau.
Information is wanted on who stole this large stack of firewood from the Pukeora Forest of Memories near Waipukurau.
The theft of a large stack of firewood at the Pukeora Forest of Memories in Waipukurau has dismayed those who oversee the arboretum, which was established more than 20 years ago as a special place to plant trees in memory of loved ones.
Waipukurau Rotarian Andrew Watts instigated the projectin 1993, and since then has planted hundreds of trees at the site at the base of Pukeora Hill, and attended numerous dedications of memorial plantings.
Last weekend he was at the park and discovered that a large stack of oak firewood that was cut by volunteers over summer and stacked at the front gate had disappeared.
A group of Central Hawke's Bay Girl Guides, Brownies and Pippins spent last Sunday afternoon helping clean up the community facility
The firewood, that was picked up and stacked to dry mostly by a working bee of 150 Hawke's Bay Regional Council staff during a team-building exercise, was to be sold to fund the planting of more trees this winter and make improvements to the community facility.
"It is hugely disappointing that there are members of our community that would take advantage of what was obviously not theirs but several hundred dollars worth of community property," Mr Watts said.
"This theft will be widely felt - it's very upsetting."
He asked for help from the public in identifying the offenders.
In the meantime, local girl guides, brownies, pippins and their parents spent a couple of hours last Sunday cleaning up pruned branches and stacking further firewood.
