A minister at a church in South Bristol has said he hopes a man who trashed the equipment used by the church’s toddler group gets the help he needs. Police are investigating the incident, which was reported this morning when volunteers at the Salvation Army church in Knowle West arrived to set up for the weekly toddler group.
They realised that, having had a week off for half-term last week, someone had been living in the storage unit at the back of the Padstow Road church - and effectively left all the play equipment and mats unusable.
The church’s co-minister Lt Matt Kinsey said the storage unit was strewn with used needles, and there was excrement, urine and blood all over the play equipment. Now, the church is appealing for help from the community in Bristol to allow them to restock the unit.
“We had a person who is quite reliant on drugs camp out in our property overnight,” said Lt Kinsey. “We were off last week so they could have been there from the end of last week, and we’ve checked the CCTV and seen them coming and going. We found blood, faeces, vomit in there,” he said.
“It means that everything that’s in there we’ll have to get rid of really, which is a bit annoying. We first noticed that things weren’t in the right place out the back, and then discovered that someone had got into the storage shed and obviously been staying in there. There were needles everywhere.
“We checked the CCTV but we didn’t see him personally. Obviously he needs some help that we can’t give him, but I hope he’s found and gets the help he needs,” he added.
The small church in the heart of Knowle West runs the toddler group every Thursday morning, as well as a Monday open morning that has carried on after being set up as part of the council’s Warm Spaces initiative last winter. The church does outreach music lessons in the community every Thursday evening too.
If you can help the Salvation Army Church in Knowle West, then email bristol.south@salvationarmy.org.uk
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