Further episodes of vandalism caused damage to St Ronan Primary School and a community garden, as well as the Victoria Park washroom and a nearby car.

The incidents are treated as linked and officers are “following a positive line of investigation”, according to a spokesperson for Police Scotland.

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Hangar organizers Gordon and Sheila Daly, who have lived in Innerleithen for nine years, said they were alerted to the vandalism on the night of Monday, December 27.

At the scene they were met the next morning, Sheila said: “There were boxes of meatballs all opened and thrown in the shed, there were packages of pasta all open and broken. It was a real mess. ”

After deep cleaning the area, the volunteers left to hand over 200 donated turkeys to the community of Peeblesshire.

However, upon returning to the hangar, Gordon discovered that the space had once again been vandalized.

“It was two days in a row where there was massive disruption to the hangar,” said Sheila, who runs the Droopy Dandelion on the High Street. “We felt discouraged because it is such a precious commodity for the community.

“Just seeing the footage was heartbreaking because you realize that with each of these incidents your project is in danger.

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“If we hadn’t found the broken glass and stuff, it would have been a risk to other people in the community. This is disturbing behavior and it is always during school holidays.

“It’s an absolute lifeline for the people of the city. If this resource were to be lost, I think it would be a huge loss to the community and a whole host of other problems would follow. ”

Community Councilor Gordon added, “I was extremely disheartened with the amount of effort myself, Sheila and the volunteers put in.

“We all think the hangar is doing a good job for Innerleithen. It was the one or both that let it down.

The Swap and Share Shed, at the back of the Co-op parking lot on Peebles Road, opened in January of last year.

Items ranging from books to food can be traded, donated or taken by the community.

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Elsewhere in Innerleithen, damage worth around £ 1,500 was caused to the community garden on the grounds of St Ronan Primary School, while the nursery was also targeted, according to reports.

On the cluster of incidents across town, Tweeddale East Councilor Robin Tatler said: “We are disappointed with this kind of behavior.

“It’s unusual for Innerleithen, it’s not something we’ve had huge problems with.”

Adding that the police will step up patrols in the area, the independent representative said: “We are particularly unhappy with the sharing shed. It really does not make sense for people to interfere with what is a useful service.

Gordon said the city was currently “a long way” from finding a solution to preventing vandal attacks.

“This is an issue we need to tackle, but I’m not sure how we’re going to tackle it,” he said. “With the limited number of police forces in this region, this is a very difficult problem to solve. ”