CHILDREN at a primary school began this week with the discovery that thieves had stolen their gardening tools.

The tools were taken at the weekend from a shed on an allotment looked after by the children from Duloe Primary School but, as headteacher Ann Carter explained, they will be of little use to the thieves as most of them were child-sized.

The children have been involved in the allotment, located on land near the village church, for about two years and during that time, thanks to fundraising and voucher collecting by local people, they have built up a stock of tools.

Mrs Carter said all the children were involved in the allotment, where they grow fruit and veg and, at this time of year, daffodils.

'We divide them into two groups and they go up there twice a week to work on it with parents and staff,' she said. 'The village has been very helpful in the past with fundraising and we had built up a really good stock of equipment.'

She said staff and pupils were still hoping the tools might turn up if the thieves abandoned them.

'Otherwise fundraising will have to start all over again. A lot of time and effort has gone into creating the allotment and we will not allow this to put us off!' said Mrs Carter.