A PLAY park in Witney has been rescued after being wrecked by vandals, thanks to the efforts of the local community.

A fibreglass slide was shattered, a goalpost ruined and a soft play area pulled up, after vandals struck at Fieldmere in the middle of last month.

Witney Town Council was forced to close the park and feared it would have to shut it for good.

But thanks to support from businesses and members of the public rallying round, the park has since been able to reopen.

Huck Nets Ltd, which is installing part of the new splash park being built on The Leys, offered to replace the broken goal for free and donated a refurbished ex-display slide which it refurbished.

Council staff replaced a soft play pad so they could re-install the trampoline which had been on top of it.

Tower Hill Football Club also offered to replace the goal net in the colours of the team.

And a group of mothers in Fieldmere offered to act as custodians for the park and will hold a key and lock it up at night so that it will be harder for vandals to target.

Council facilities manager Claire Swan spoke of her gratitude to the community.

She said: “What fantastic people we have in our community.

“We will take Huck Nets up on their offer, but want to let everyone know how generous and quick to offer to help Tower Hill FC have been.

“I am sure, like us, you will find the generosity of everyone behind these offers reassuring.

“Witney does indeed have a great community spirit and the majority of people are good eggs – thank you everyone.”

Witney residents took to Facebook to express their gratitude.

Jenny Pyke-Holmes posted: “Lovely to hear that community spirit is alive and well in Witney. Thank you to those who have come forward.”

Michelle Barber commented: “Lovely to read Witney people are coming together to help. I just hope if vandals get caught they pay for this.”

The council has been plagued by vandalism and has spent £10,000 repairing damage, mainly in parks and recreation areas, over the past six months.

No arrests have been made by police for any of the vandalism to council property, Witney Town Council said.

There have also been repeated reports of antisocial behaviour on the King George Recreation Field. Resident Graham Le Good wrote to the council on April 9 saying: “About 5pm yesterday a group of youths gathered by the hard court area.

“By around 7pm this had increased to a group of more than 20 with lots of drinking and smoking.

“The group was noisy and rowdy. There were also youths urinating on the field.”

Councillors remain concerned that their new £250,000 investment in the splash park at The Leys, due to open in the summer, could also suffer from vandalism.

But Det Insp Ollie Holland, head of Witney neighbourhood policing team, said the council should not be put off from investing in it.

He said it was difficult to prevent vandalism in parks because police could not be monitoring them at all times.

He called on members of the public to alert officers to any problems.