Vandalism and our park
OK let’s face it, in the great scheme of things, damaged play equipment isn’t exactly a top priority. There are more serious issues to be addressed. BUT every time anything gets damaged it costs money to have it put right. Not only that, sometimes things are damaged and can’t be used for a while until they can be mended or replaced. It seems like madness to me to wilfully damage play equipment.

We see damage to trees, swings, slides, fencing and walls. Most of us assume teenagers are responsible. But on the whole, much younger children are the culprits for a large amount of seemingly petty vandalism. Without thought they hack at young saplings, daub any smooth areas with paint, kick at gravel paths, smear a variety of substances down the slide, chop pieces out of swings, twist the chains till they are too high to swing on, write swear words anywhere they can, (often mis-spelt) break bottles and kick the glass around and generally make the place look a mess. Maybe they don’t realise what they are doing. Children aren’t usually very good at thinking through the consequences of their actions. I often wonder, do the children causing the damage return to play in the park? And do they wonder why they can’t play on the equipment? This area has been without decent play areas for many years, so now we’ve got one, let us look after it! K.B.