ORGANISERS of a Hampshire pumpkin festival are 'heartbroken' after 30 pumpkins from the event were 'demolished.'

Sonja and John Davison who volunteer for the Jubilee Sailing Trust charity have organised the Autumn event which is held at Royal Victoria Country Park for the past 20 years.

The event is in aid of the JST who provide life-changing adventures to people of all ages, backgrounds and levels of physical ability.

After thousands of visitors flocked to the event on October 13, the couple returned to the site the next day where they discovered 30 pumpkins that had been 'kicked to pieces.'

Sonja told the Echo that these pumpkins were going to be donated to the volunteers at Royal Victoria Park so that they could sell them to raise funds for their own community events.

Sonja described this as a 'truly sad incident.'

She said: "It is such a community festival and it's a really positive event for young people and it's just really disheartening that some people have no regard for that."

The couple from Eastleigh said that this will not deter them from running the event in the future as they don't want this incident to 'spoil thousands of peoples enjoyment.'

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Sonja also told the Echo that three of the fire extinguishers from the site were also found strewn across the lawn on Saturday morning.