CHILDREN from Aberdour Primary have seen their gardening project blossom despite vandals destroying their green-fingered efforts.

A polytunnel at the school suffered damage last month when intruders gained access to it and left damage – and a mess – behind.

Despite their disappointment at the incident, the Primary 3 class simply rolled up their sleeves and carried out an extensive clean-up.

Their efforts have inspired the local community to dig deep and donate items to help them with their work.

Teacher Aileen Kellas explained: "We had gone up to the polytunnel to get equipment and we found this mess so the children saw it as well.

"There was quite a lot of damage – not a huge amount but everything had been taken out and thrown about. There had been a bag of concrete which had been emptied into the middle and water put on it. Luckily, they didn't put enough water on and our janitor managed to get it away.

"The children were amazing. They had a vote – we were supposed to be going to the woods for free learning and they decided no, they were going to stay and clean up the polytunnel.

"It was a thing of beauty to see 27 seven- and eight-year-olds doing it. When they had finished, it was probably cleaner than it was beforehand."

After parents were updated, donations of seeds and plants have been made which Ms Kellas said they had been overwhelmed with.

"We had offers of runner beans, courgettes, I have just had a delivery of a big box of tomato plants from Lochgelly High School's DAS unit as they had been growing them and had extra.

"The amount of learning we are getting out of this is amazing. They are learning about the life cycle of a plant and sustainability and keeping it local.

"Eventually, the hope is we will grow enough to sell it locally."