SENSELESS vandals are wrecking Leigh's hopes of being a town in bloom.

Saturday night revellers destroyed brand-new hanging baskets at a town centre bakery just hours after they'd been delivered.

Gregg's bakery on Bradshawgate bought two baskets as part of a scheme to make Leigh bloomin' great!

Organised by Leigh Soroptomists and backed by town centre manager John Ayres, the scheme has meant over 100 hanging baskets and flower troughs adding glorious colour to the town.

But last weekend, the baskets outside Gregg's were wrenched off the wall. They were found on Monday in nearby Union Street - one completely irrepairable.

Assistant manager of Gregg's, Lynn Martin said: "The baskets went missing between us leaving the shop at 5pm on Saturday and 10.30pm, when one of our girls walked past. Someone must have deliberately set out to take them, because we had chained them to the brackets, with wheel trims to secure them.

"Whoever did this must be pathetic, mindless vandals. The flowers looked beautiful on either side of the door on Saturday. You try your best to make Leigh town centre a bit better, then vandals go and do something like this."

Town Centre Manager John Ayres said: "The vast majority of Leigh folk are very positive. They come to the town centre to enjoy themselves.

"Whoever vandalises like this is obviously in the very, very small minority. We must show them the positive things about the town, and make them realise that this sort of thing just isn't acceptable."

Despite this petty vandalism, Leigh Soroptomists are still keen to encourage people to buy the baskets.

Avis Freeman said: "The people who destroy the town centre like this must be against us trying to making Leigh a better place."

The Tidy Britain group will be judging the hanging baskets later in the week.

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