Fire.

[Guest]

It is with great sadness that I type this topic, in the very early hours of Monday morning, (seven minutes past two) some one decided to set alight our outside storage unit and we have lost the lot.

 

As one child asked me when I explained what had happened "But why?". Why indeed.... I replied that I really didn't know why someone would do this. But no one was hurt and the fire engine came quickly to sort it out and we will try to fix it for everyone.

 

One child cried as he realised that the scooters had been destroyed.

 

Upon collection a child was very upset at the news and told his parent Lesley will try to fix it but how will she?

 

Today I have an interesting discussion with a small group of the older children, they wanted to know where the toys had gone so I explained that many of them where plastic and would melt, we looked at my photos and could see the metal frames of the scooters and the water stand, this promoted a discussion about metal and how this had not melted in the heat.

 

With insurance and kind parents we can replace some items at a cost, but the tears and upset from the children can not be put right.

 

One child studied the photos for a time and asked me again "Why?" I replied "sometimes people do unkind things and don't think about the upset they have made to others" she looked at me and said "will the person say sorry to us?" With tears in my eyes i said "well that would be a nice thing to do".

 

After this comment I thought the local newspaper really should interview this child as she sums it all up very well.

 

The parents have been great and word has soon spread around our small town, it is in our local paper and on the radio. The chair person has written a lovely letter to the parents and thanked every one for their help yesterday and for the offers of help.

 

I pose the child's question to you all .... WHY???

[Cait]

I wish I knew

[HappyMaz]

I pose the child's question to you all .... WHY???

Because some people do things without thinking of the consequences of their actions for others, maybe for fun or maybe as a sign that there is something deeply wrong with their lives.

 

My heart goes out to you Lesley - what lovely children who clearly have such an awareness of the distress caused by an unthinking and destructive act. How touching that your children have such faith in your ability to make things right again, but ultimately how sad it is that some of the innocence and magic has gone from their lives.

 

I know that you will support your children and staff through these difficult days as you grapple with what has happened, and begin to turn your minds towards the practicalities of recovering from this awful thing that has happened. I hope in turn that your staff and parents continue to support you well, too.

 

Take care

 

Maz

[Guest]

i don't understand and feel deeply sorry for you, it's such a dreadful feeling when something happens to childrens things we had our outdoor area vandalised and it took us a long time to get over it, but with any luck your children have learn't (the hard way) that things like this do happen and that they will never be apart of it. i hope you have kind hearted people around you to rebuild and replenish your equipment.

[hali]

how awful for you all - i am so sorry - the mentality of people!!!!!! - i hope things can get sorted soon

[Guest]

How awful!! Once again the minority ie person/people who started the fire get their kicks at the expense of others

 

I wish I could offer practical help, or words of advice, but hope that sympathy and words of encouragement will suffice....

 

Lesley, pick yourself up, paste on a smile and take the support offered by the parents to get things back to those lovely children - hopefully they'll learn that for every nasty person in the big wide world there's more than one nice person who'll lend a helping hand!

 

Nona

[Beau]

Oh Lesley, what a terrible thing to happen and a hard lesson for all your little ones. It is so senseless and wasteful, I really don't have an answer. One assumes it was youngsters, but what on earth were they doing out and about at this time of night causing such destruction? When I lived in Scotland a few years ago a primary school was completely destroyed and had to be rebuilt after teenagers lit a fire on one side of it. All of the children's work, the equipment, photos, trophies etc wiped out in one stupid act.

 

Hugs to you allxx

[JacquieL]

So sorry to hear about your fire. A mindless act by people without thought for anyone!

I think out of this you will see the better side of people as they rally around to support you and the children. There is that side to the human spirit that people will pull together and support each other in times of trouble. I hope that is something that will help the children recover from what has happened.

[Guest]

I felt very sad when I read your post and then very angry and now I am very sad again,

I wish I knew what goes on in the minds of these individuals when they are causing such destruction.

The positive has to be that no person was hurt and your setting is safe I suppose some consolation for the injustice for you, your staff and children.

[Guest]

This was clearly a thoughtless, stupid and dreadful act, and you have my sympathy. What comes over to me, through your post, is how lucky the children are to have someone as caring as you to help them through it. You sound so upset for the children. There is no answer when people do such dreadful things?

In my experience, when something bad like this happens, somehow something positive comes out of it. For example, the stained glass windows of our local church were vandalised recently, but the community (few of whom usually have any obvious thought for the church) have rallied round - the local charity shop has a collecting tin, the pub has persuaded the brewery to give them 2 barrels of beer free so that the takings one evening will all go to the windows fund, the local school is organising a sponsored walk etc. etc. In fact, the church is covered by insurance, but this has really brought out the community spirit in the area.

So, what I am trying to say is that it sounds as if parents etc will rally round, and hopefully the children will soon see that, whilst some people do dreadful things, that other people do care, and care a great deal. I hope that in the long run the children will be left with a positive view of human nature.

Will be thinking of you

Gruffalo2

[wellerkaren]

I just don't know what to say, My thought are with you and your children. It is so sad that people do things without thinking x x

[Guest]

That is awful. It is so hard to accept that there are people out there who would do something so awful to a part of the community who offer so much.

 

Your children sound a really thoughtful bunch to be able to question what has happened and take it in.

 

I hope you are able to recover from this situation soon.

[Guest]

Terrible news for you....much sympathy from me....

[Guest]

how very sad, and very mindless. The comments from your children made me feel so very very sad xxx

[sunnyday]

Oh Lesley, how sad, have nothing useful to add, just wanted to send a hug.........

[Guest]

Thank you every one, it is good to share my feelings with you guys as you all know just how i feel. A new day begins and i feel a donut day coming for every one!