ALAN WHALLEY'S WORLD

MINDLESS yobbos have been out in force again at a once highly-picturesque public park.

The ornamental duckpond and gargoyle decorated folly at Victoria Park - well over a century old - is being systematically vandalised.

A stone arch spanning mock turrets which have delighted the eye of succeeding generations of St Helens children has been torn down and the masonry hurled into the pond.

This follows an arson attack in recent times at the park's historic weather station. It was completely gutted, causing a sense of outrage among those who regularly stroll through a park whose Victorian glory is rapidly fading.

One of them, a 64-year-old grandad who didn't wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, told me: "When I was a kid, this park was a real picture with colourful flower beds, a drinking fountain and neat walkways.

"Kids of my generation would never have dreamed of even stepping inside a flower bed. But there's a minority of youths now whose only pleasure seems to be in wrecking every pleasant feature they clap eyes on."

He often pram-pushes his grandchild to feed the ducks, but says "I'm watching the place go to the dogs before my eyes. The idiots seem to attack under cover of darkness, no doubt when they're high on drugs. I've seen glue bags scattered all over the place."

He realises that financial limitations prevent the park from being returned to its Victorian splendour, but adds: "Surely, we should preserve what little of it is left. Though I don't know what the solution is."

Well I do! If I had my way, any louts caught should be forced to retrieve all the fallen masonry from the pond, be compelled to work on restoration or pay to have the damage made good.

I recommend the same sort of treatment for all graffiti dead-heads who should be compelled to scrub off their sprawl from defaced buildings, walls, bridges and the like.

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