Villagers near Boroughbridge were left angry and upset after vandals wrecked a nativity scene in their parish churchyard.
The nativity was put in place at St John’s Church in Minskip last week in time for a carol service, held outside because of covid concerns.
A central part of it was the nativity scene, which three or four of the church council had put up themselves.
The first indication that something had happened came early this morning.
The scene this morning.
Churchwarden Robert Beaumont said:
“The lovely couple, Jason and Helen, who live next door to the church, heard a noise at about 5am.
“They’re not sure if that was the vandals destroying the nativity scene but when they looked out of their windows at about 7am, all the wise men, the crib, everything, was scattered all around the churchyard.
“To have it just destroyed in this wanton and mindless manner was heart-breaking. And we’ve all been thinking, why would anybody want to do that?”
The church has reported the incident to police.
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Villagers have managed to salvage the scene and rebuild it,
Mr Beaumont said.
“Although the vandals kicked parts of the scene all over the church or they didn’t break them in two.
“So with a lot of love and care, three members of our church committee worked from about half past eight this morning and put the whole scene back together again.
“And so, as one of our church council members said, love will always triumph over hate and good over evil. And that’s one of the messages of Christmas, so that was rather appropriate.
“But that doesn’t quite extinguish my anger as churchwarden that people should find it appropriate to desecrate our churchyard.”
It caps a difficult period for St John’s. A drunken motorist crashed into the church wall about six weeks ago. Insurance covered it but the church had to pay a £500 excess.
Covid-permitting, the village will hold an outdoor Christmas Day service with the nativity scene firmly in the foreground.
