Fed up Scots nursery bosses are removing ‘lodge’ from the pre-school centre’s name to stop bigots vandalising their signs.
Staff at Glencoats Lodge Nursery in Paisley have had to replace the sign THREE times after it was repeatedly covered in green paint.
Since the Blackstoun Road nursery was taken over in 2017, the sign outside the building has been damaged more than a dozen times, reports the Paisley Daily Express.
As well as painted, the word ‘Lodge’ has repeatedly been taped over, scrawled on or spray out in what the nursery’s director has branded as “infantile and ludicrous” behaviour.
Staff believe the vandalism is fuelled by sectarianism, with louts targeting the building due to the use of the word lodge, which they are linking to Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland - the oldest and biggest Protestant fraternity in Scotland.
Director of the nursery, Douglas Colin, told the Paisley Daily Express: “It is utterly ridiculous.
“It is clear, plain and simple that the only reason our sign is being damaged is because of sectarianism.
“There is no other reason those who are vandalising it would continuously be removing the word lodge.
“It has happened about a dozen times now and this is the third time we have had to get the sign replaced.
“They are assimilating the word lodge with the Orange Order, which is just ludicrous.
“We are a nursery with no links to this whatsoever.”
Douglas, who operates eight nurseries across Scotland as part of his family-run business, says they are even going as far as officially changing the name of the facility as they have had enough.
The listed building, which was built in 1888, has links to the famous Coats family, and it was actually used as a lodge house - which Douglas says is where the name came from.
He added: “Currently, we are listed as Glencoats Lodge Nursery with the Care Inspectorate, but we are looking to change that and just become Glencoats Nursery to try and put a stop to this.
“We just want to speak out and clear this up in the hope that people who are doing this will understand there are no links and to leave our signs alone.”
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