SMASHED glass and damaged play equipment that littered a pre-school playground after it was targeted by vandals has been cleared and fixed thanks to the support of a neighbouring school.

Vandals entered the gardens of Yateley Community Pre-School on the evening of February 1 and damaged the children’s wigwam and wooden post used for making dens, before stealing army camouflage netting and a thick rope used as a swing. Smashed glass posed a danger to the children in Cranford Park Drive and left them feeling distraught.

The bursar at Yateley Manor School contacted the pre-school to offer assistance and a member of the maintenance team paid a visit to mend the damaged wigwam.

The broken roof has also been fixed, new Perspex has replaced the windows and the door has been re-aligned. A parent of one of the pre-school children also donated money to replace the rope swing.

Janet Fane, pre-school manager, said: “We are so grateful for Yateley Manor’s help and the donation from our parent, it goes to show that there are some really charitable people in our local area.

“The children would like to say a huge thank you to Mike, from Yateley Manor for his

excellent job. The wigwam is looking as good as new again.”

The head of maintenance at Yateley Manor, Richard Nick-less, visited the pre-school to assess the damage and purchase supplies to repair the damage before Mike Chiriac went along to fix the wigwam.

Brandon Ashton, bursar at Yateley Manor, said: “We are delighted to have been able to help our neighbours and support our local pre-school by lending them our talented maintenance team.”

This was not the first time the pre-school had been vandalised. There had been no problems in the last two years, but before then it was a regular occurrence every weekend and during the holidays.

Anna Moores, a parent to three pre-school children, added: “I was saddened to hear mindless vandals had once again been at work in the pre-school garden. My daughter came home and told me her favourite things to play on were now broken.

“All I can say is it has been lovely that such selfish behaviour from some brings out the opposite in others.”

Site navigation

• Home
• News
• Business
• Sport
• Entertainment
• Lifestyle
• Jobs
• Property
• Motoring
• Classifieds