Young vandals damage Soroba swing park
SOROBA community groups were ‘saddened’ after ‘senseless’ vandals damaged a children’s swing park.
Vandals ripped up the soft tarmac flooring under the swing set, twisted and removed fence rungs and pulled benches out the ground which were bolted down.
Soroba Community Centre in Oban said on its Facebook page: ‘Very sad to see the newly laid safety Tarmac ripped up and strewn outside the play area. Rubbish left lying about too. This area is for everyone’s enjoyment but is being ruined by some senseless individuals.’
Vivian Ritz, the community caretaker for Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA), has had to do a daily safety check following the incident. The acts of vandalism started over the weekend and became worse on Monday last week, during the period of sunny weather.
Vivian said: ‘It’s really well used. That’s why it is so upsetting.
‘There’s a younger group that are just rascals, but there is an older group who are vandals.
‘The bigger ones who do it know full well what they are doing. They are causing mayhem and danger.
‘The younger ones do not see the bigger picture, that someone has to pay for it.’
Vivian said ACHA was in ‘a running battle for the fence’ adding, ‘I do not know how many rungs we have had to replace. During the summer, it’s weekly.’
The swing has had to be cable tied to the frame as it would be unsafe for children to use and it could be some time before repairs are made. Vivian said: ‘Because of the nature of the stuff, we are going to have to get someone up from Glasgow. It will be expensive.’
Soroba Young Family Group also experienced a similar incident after returning to the playgroup following the weekend as sand had been flung around its outdoor play-space. CCTV footage revealed that a group of children had scattered the sand and two boys were caught lying on the playhouse roof.
The garden was grant-funded by Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme and is used for different learning and activity opportunities.
The group is hoping to share the space with the community and develop it into a garden area where children can grow vegetables.
The group shared its disappointment on Facebook: ‘ We continually urge you to make sure your children are not damaging the nursery garden.
‘This may be “just sand” but it means time out of our nursery day to clean it up before our own children can go out to play. It also means a lack of respect for our property and resources.’
The group urged parents to remind children that CCTV cameras were in operation and to ‘please have a word’ with them if they recognised the culprits.