VOLUNTEERS who spent thousands of hours maintaining land around a railway station have spoken of their anger after vandals repeatedly trashed plants.

The Burnham Railway Bridge Task Force meets on the first Saturday of the month to tidy and plant the area around Burnham railway station.

But member Una Norman was shocked to discover vandals had badly damaged a tree and shrubs when she passed by earlier this month.

Mrs Norman spent three hours clearing the mess only to find more damage was caused just days later.

She said: “I went up there and I looked down into the car park and I couldn’t believe the amount of damage that had been done.

“It took me three hours to clear it all up.

“On Monday I went back and was horrified to see the same thing had happened again.”

A tree, similar to a palm tree, and Bottlebrushes shrubs were damaged in the incidents.

In recent years the team has planted a range of trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants to help spruce up the area.

Mrs Norman added: “The task force has spent nearly 8,000 volunteer hours trying to keep the railway, car park and bridge looking improved.

“We are very unhappy, it has destroyed a lot of work.

“There must have been more than one person with the amount of dam- age that was done. They didn’t care at all about what they were doing. Surely someone must have seen something.

“The plants were just getting established and now they have destroyed years of growth in just a weekend.”

Members of the group are determined to not be beaten and returned at the weekend to make repairs.