MINDLESS vandals are destroying a haven which provides pleasure to thousands.

Staff at Lilford Park in Leigh dread to think what awaits them when they turn-in for work after arsonists struck over the Bank Holiday weekend.

A Council Transit van was torched in the park compound and an attempt made to burn down a 40-foot long bowling green verandah.

They also ripped-out dumper truck wiring in the latest of a series of teenage attacks.

Nearby residents spotted the flames mid-evening but fire crews could do little to save the van. But they put out the verandah fire which had been fuelled by wooden planks ripped-up from the bowling green gutters and sprinkled with wood shavings stolen from a store.

"It's getting like the Wild West in here," says fed-up animal keeper Paul Brown.

"We get lads flying around on quads and motorbikes churning-up the bowling greens.

"The other week they even let all the animals out of their compounds causing stress and injury to several.

"The Council provided a special area for playing football but they prefer to use the bowling greens. We all dread the school holidays. We're going to have to step-up patrols."

After the eve of Bank Holiday blaze he added: "Parents must know who is responsible. They must have gone home stinking of smoke and shavings."

And its happening at a time when High Sheriff of Greater Manchester Norman Stoller and Greater Manchester Police are backing a Millennium challenge to a quarter of a million youngsters.

Eleven to 18-year-olds are being targeted to join in projects to significantly improve their community.

A scheme similar to the one which saw Leigh youngsters involved in resurrecting vandal-hit Pennington Park could perhaps work wonders on the other side of town.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.