Anger as young carers' Christmas tree is vandalised

A Christmas tree decorated by young carers as part of a seasonal trail has been vandalised and destroyed.

Decorated by Voluntary Norfolk, the tree in the Castle Quarter shopping centre in Norwich, was one of 20 that were specially decorated by charities, groups and schools from across the county.

It was one of three trees vandalised during the weekend of 22 and 23 November, with about 35 baubles created by carers destroyed.

Faye Scott, head of commissioned services at Voluntary Norfolk, said: "We were really quite angry and then it turned to real sadness on how do we tell the young carers all their hard work had been destroyed... we are not going to let this defeat us."

The charity applied to Castle Quarter to be able to have a Christmas tree as part of the trail, decorated by the people who use their service.

Ms Scott said: "With the 41 handmade decorations that the young carers had completed, there was only six of them that remained.

"Most of the young carers wanted those back.

"They were all planning to go see the Christmas tree as well, so we had to ring them up and let them know that they were unable to do so because we didn't have the Christmas tree because of some vandalism within the Castle Quarter."

A photo board was also vandalised.

Ms Scott added: "The tree was meant to shine a light on them and celebrate them and show Norfolk the strength they carry every single day."

Rob Bradley, centre manager at Castle Quarter, said: "Very sadly, three of our 20 community Christmas trees were vandalised over the weekend of 22/23 November.

"We are pleased to say that the organisations whose trees were damaged have been able to replace their decorations and are still able to take part in the trail as planned."

He said they were working with the police and reviewing CCTV footage in an attempt to find the people responsible for the damage.

"This only makes us more determined to celebrate the good, kind-hearted people of Norwich, who display the true spirit of Christmas," he added.

Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.