A MOTHER and daughter are heartbroken over the vandalism of a public seat they spent many hours restoring.Wendy Spencer and her daughter, Lucinda, 15, volunteered to repair a seat donated to the town of Eye by the local branch of the WI to mark the Queen's coronation in 1953.

A MOTHER and daughter are heartbroken over the vandalism of a public seat they spent many hours restoring.

Wendy Spencer and her daughter, Lucinda, 15, volunteered to repair a seat donated to the town of Eye by the local branch of the WI to mark the Queen's coronation in 1953.

The pair devoted time in the evenings and weekend to replacing a missing piece of timber and, after sand-papering the entire structure, giving the seat several coats of protective varnish.

However, vandals wrecked the seat over the weekend, somehow managing to pull it out of its concrete base and breaking its legs in the process.

Mrs Spencer said her daughter had repaired and varnished the seat as part of her community service work with the local Guide company.

It had earned her a community achievement award from Mid Suffolk District Council.

"We are disappointed and quite upset at the vandalism. We both spent a lot of time on making the seat look nice again.

"My daughter was absolutely heartbroken when we passed the scene on Sunday morning and saw what had happened," said Mrs Spencer.

"She loves living in Eye and has always realised that a community is what you make it," she added.

The seat, near the town's fire station, is within a garden area which has been planted with hundreds of spring bulbs by WI members.

It was one of three public seats ion Eye destroyed by vandals during the early hours of Sunday morning. Police are investigating.

Alan Cooper, chairman of the town council's highways committee, said all three seats had been damaged beyond repair and the cost of replacement was likely to be between £2,500 and £3,000.

"You can get cheaper ones but seats these days have to be heavy duty and concreted in the ground to stand any chance of escaping damage by vandals," he said.

All three seats involved in the latest attack had been concreted into the ground but this had not deterred the vandals.