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£30K heist of Forestry Equipment from charity

Written by Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce | 14 May 2019

In the early hours of Monday 13th May, the Barn at the Forest Centre & Millennium Country Park (Marston Moretaine) was broken into and goods over the value of £30k were stolen. The Centre is run by the Forest of Marston Vale, and such a huge loss is a devastating blow to the charity, who are planting trees and creating woodlands across the area. 

 The group of 5-6 perpetrators smashed their way through a gate at the Millbrook Station end of the Millennium Country Park and rode around to the Barn, before hauling the goods outside and leaving in under 5 minutes.

 One of the highest priced items taken was only very recently acquired through Leader funding, after a very lengthy bidding and admin process. Staff and volunteers at the charity are all saddened both by the financial loss and the time and effort it will take to rectify things until replacements have been resourced.  

Members of the public who have any information or who witnessed anything in the days surrounding the burglary, have been asked to contact 101 with any information (quoting reference no. BP-13052019-0029)

The Forest of Marston Vale (Registered Charity No. 1069229) covers the 61 square mile area between Bedford and Milton Keynes and has planted over 1.5 million trees to date, aiming to make the area a thriving place to live, work and play.

Find out more information about the charity at www.marstonvale.org.

Topics: forest of marston vale

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