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Search forYobs leave park looking “like Purley tip”
12:00 - 24-July-2008
Yesterday morning, Old Coulsdon residents woke to find empty bottles strewn across the lawn, debris left to blow under bushes and even a young tree uprooted in Grange Park.
The most likely culprits are the groups of overexcited youngsters who had been celebrating breaking up for summer there the night before.
Pat Ward-Lee of Old Coulsdon Residents Association (OCRA) compared the destruction to Purley's refuse tip.
He said: “I'd been looking after a young hornbeam tree for the last four months and it has been ripped out of the ground.
“I'm absolutely heart-broken. The park has been trashed and vandalised.”
The OCRA chairman complained to schools he felt may have been involved including Keston Primary School and Bryon Primary School.
In the letter, he wrote: “The children's playground was covered in nasty bags, bottles and cartons, and the main area was strewn with the remains of picnics.
“Council employees had only just finished a clean-up operation in Grange Park, and it was in pristine condition before the party started.
“For children, who we would hope, are taught the importance of caring for their lovely surroundings and nurturing growing things, this seems incredible behaviour.”
The only headteacher available for comment, Linda Hall, of Keston Primary School said the party had nothing to do with the schools as the pupils had already broken up.
She said it had been organised by parents after the children had broken up for summer.
She said: “Parents tell me there were bottles when they got there so it wasn't in pristine condition.
“I am told there were students from Coulsdon College also there.
“Parents of our pupils said they also took black sacks for their rubbish.”
A council clean up team was dispatched for a mass clean-up, collecting half a dozen black bags worth of litter and two fire extinguishers.
UPROOTED: Pat Ward-Lee with the uprooted tree Photo No: CCRDF230708a06 by Danny Fitzpatrick
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