History: Vandal attacks and memories of Ladyburn Church

That is what happened on three occasions 40 years ago this month.

Vandals targeted Greenock’s Blairmore Nursery over the last weekend in May, 1994.

Pupils at the pre-five centre had spent the previous two months transforming the front of the building with plants and trees.

They received a highly commended certificate and £100 for nursery funds from British Telecom who had been running a national environmental improvement competition.

Nursery staff and pupils turned up on the closing Monday of the month to find almost every plant and tree had been ripped out and scattered around the playground.

A nursery spokesperson said: “Parents had helped us lay turf and all the youngsters had pitched in to help plant the flowers and trees.

“The children keep asking where the flowers have gone - they cannot understand it.”

On the previous Friday, pupils from Port Glasgow’s Clune Park Primary were invited to the official opening of a new section of the town’s cycle track near Glenhuntly Road.

They arrived to find decorative tiles they made specially for the occasion – and which had been put in place 24 hours earlier – were smashed to pieces.

Clune Park’s head teacher said the children had been excited about seeing their tiles but were left disappointed and angry.

Earlier in the month, children from Link-in crèches throughout the east end of Greenock planted trees to help the restoration of Auchmountain Glen.

A plaque marking the childrens’ efforts was unveiled by regional councillor Alex McGhee.

It had been firmly cemented to a wall at the entrance to the glen but was prised off and stolen by vandals.

Mr McGhee said he was sickened by the theft after all the work Link-in and the children had put into the project.

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TODAY'S photo flashback is of Greenock’s former Ladyburn Church.

It was a landmark familiar to many due to its location at the junction of the upper section of Pottery Street and Port Glasgow Road.

It was demolished in 1970.