Mothers and children are pleading for vandals to stop ruining their playground.

Spelling it out - Orkney Brown, Jade Sparkes, Liberty Brown, Bradley Bryant, Harry Sparkes and Harry Snell

Hockley Parish Council has £10,000 for improvements to Plumberow Mount Playspace, Hockley, but is reluctant to spend the cash while the site is constantly vandalised.

Ten rubber tiles underneath a swing at the playground were deliberately set alight earlier this month, causing more than £1,000 of damage, and the tyre is missing from a swing after it was repeatedly burnt.

Protest organiser Deanna Sparkes, of Marylands Avenue, Hockley, put up posters at Plumberow Primary School, where she is a governor and classroom assistant. Her children, Harry, nine , and Jade, seven, helped make protest placards.

Mrs Sparkes hoped community action might make the vandals think before destroying equipment.

Lesley Vingoe, chairman of the council's environment working party, said she hoped the protest would make vandals think about their effect on the community.

She said: "It's not a kick back at the council. It affects the people who enjoy the facilities - the mums and kids.

"These vandals might have enjoyed this equipment and might have a little brother or sister who would enjoy it. It's short-sighted."

Published Friday July 23, 2004

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