A heartbroken family have hit out at ‘disgusting’ vandals who trashed their loved one’s memorial bench.
A commemorative wooden bench honouring keen golfer Alan Kennedy was vandalised at Belleisle Golf Course on Sunday.
Cruel vandals smashed the bench to pieces, leaving the Kennedy family incensed at the thoughtless act as they now have to get a new seat in place.
Alan, who was a beloved member of the Ayr golf course for many years, was tragically killed in a car crash in 2005.
Daughter Louise Drennan, from Alloway, told Ayrshire Live: “It’s heart-breaking, it’s disgusting, there’s no words for it.
“The bench is not repairable so it’ll be a new bench that we will have to have made again.
“It’s not even the monetary aspect, it’s the fact of how special it is to us being there, especially given the fact my dad died in tragic circumstances.
“I just don’t know what makes individuals or groups think that that’s acceptable when it’s not.
“That bench has been there since 2005 and we’re in 2023. It’s just atrocious to you think you can’t even put a memorial bench down.”
Louise is now calling on the public to come forward with any information that might help identify the culprit or culprits responsible.
She said: “The golfer who contacted my brother said there was a group of about 30 youths - we can’t presume that it’s them - but he said they were kicking trees and bins.
“It’s somebody’s son or daughter who has been out. There might come a day when they might have a relative that passes away and they decide to get a memorial bench, and how would that make them feel?
“I know myself having children I would hate to think that that’s any of my family.”
Louise hopes speaking out about her dad’s bench can shine a light on a spate of recent vandalism incidents in the area.
She said: “I feel to be honest it’s like the feral society we’re living in.
“You pick up the Ayrshire Post every week and we’ve had the Arran Mall, the Auld Kirk. I was horrified when I saw the pictures in the paper from the Arran Mall and then you look at the Auld Kirk and that’s disgusting- that’s just dealing with a whole other level.
“And again that’s someone’s son or daughter who thinks that’s acceptable.
“It just highlights this ongoing thing that we are having within South Ayrshire of these vandalism incidents.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On the evening of Sunday, June 4, police received a report of vandalism to a memorial bench at Belleisle Park, Ayr. Enquiries are at an early stage.”
Read next:
- Man who 'sacrificed family home' in doomed business venture to turn former hotel and bar into residential property
- Teenager is in the final of Miss Great Britain
- Popular cafe closes its doors for good
- Six beaches receive national award as Scotland sizzles in warm spell
- Controversial new manufacturing facility nodded through
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter
