On Sunday morning, June 9, Wine X Sam’s water main was broken and vandalised. Photo: Supplied
The owners of Wine X Sam were revamping its front garden and parking lot, and had just finished a landscaping job on Thursday, June 6.
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On Saturday, June 8, Wine X Sam director and co-founder Bron Dunwoodie went to Melbourne to get plants for the new garden, but by Sunday morning, she was being bombarded with calls, texts and Facebook messages about it.
Photos of Wine X Sam’s front garden showing a broken tap were being sent to her by various people, some even posting on Facebook group Seymour Community Notice Board to get the owners’ attention.
“Messages were coming through, the phone was ringing early, saying, ‘You know you’ve got a burst water main?’, ‘You know it’s flooding?’,” Ms Dunwoodie said.
“The first thought was, ‘Oh, was there something that the landscaping has hit?’.”
In a frenzy, she drove back to Seymour from Melbourne after hearing that water from the broken tap had flooded the footpath on Anzac Ave.
“We contacted our winemaker who was here in town to come and turn the mains off, and we were in transit to get back here,” Ms Dunwoodie said.
“The landscaper, Jamie from Pro Turf, who had done it, he said he drove past, saw what had happened.
“We realised it was the tap that was now exposed in the garden bed, and that someone during the night has just broken it off.”
Ms Dunwoodie said by the time they arrived, the damage had been done.
“By the time we got here, everything was a soddy mess,” she said.
“The work that had been done looked quite damaged.”
Kinetic sand had just been placed in the parking lot, so the water has turned the place very muddy.
Community members contacted and sent photos of the flooded footpath on Anzac Ave to Wine X Sam owner Bron Dunwoodie on Sunday, June 9. Photo: Supplied
Despite what happened, Ms Dunwoodie said she had found a silver lining.
“We had somewhere between 10 or 20 people contact us to let us know, and people we don’t know, but they just reached out to us, so that was quite amazing,” she said.
“It's just amazing that people ... you see they care, and care enough to make an effort.
“Just to see that water covering the footpath ... a lot of people walk past or are walking their dogs early in the morning, and it’s quite a lot of foot traffic that goes past on Anzac Ave, so it would have caused a hindrance to people and people who are on scooters and things like that.”
Ms Dunwoodie said she didn’t see why some people felt the need to damage someone else’s property, but she knew there were many nice people in the community who cared.
“Things happen,” she said.
“The most amazing thing is these things happen for whatever reason, but to have so many people in the community just turn out and step up to help with not even being asked ... It’s all so heartening.”
Now, the tap is fixed, and Ms Dunwoodie is back to planting more plants in Wine X Sam’s garden.
“It’s just a big thank you, just thank you for caring,” she said.
“It just really warms you and just to know there’s a lot more good people out there than not-so-good people, it’s really heartening.
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