Mindless vandalism.

[jimmi5bellies]

Just a note to the scum who set those fires last night ...you could have cost me my life and that of my son and my neighbours !

At 2pm i had cause to call out the fire brigade after i could smell burning in my flat. It smelt like plastic burning and i was worried i had an electrical fault somewhere ! I dialled 999 and the fire-brigade took 10 minutes to arrive. I was shocked seeing as i only live 2 streets away from the new station. The reason being Accy brigage was buisy dealing with your mess and i had to wait for crews to get to me from Blackburn and Great Harwood.

Thankfully it all turned out well .... count yourself lucky this time !

[SPUGGIE J]

If something happens casualty wise because of the actions of a very bored Rodney then they should be charged if caught not only over the fire they started but with endagering other peoples lives. Unfortunate thing is the chances of it happing are nil. By the time DO GOODERS are finished the culprit will be made out to be a victim.

I am glad jimmi5bellies and his family neibourghs etc are ok but unfortunatly it shows the
state of affairs all to clearly.

[cashman]

that certainly could have been an unforseen tragedy that these pieces of crap caused,just glad everyone is ok jimmie5bellies and family @neighbours,but it certainly highlights what else can happen.

[jpest1]

I am glad jimmi5bellies and his family neibourghs etc are ok but unfortunatly it shows the
state of affairs all to clearly.[/QUOTE]

Jimmi is female for a start and for the second time in a week I have been woken by the smell of of smoke. It seems to be coming from the other side of the canal, but I cant be sure

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by Doug

Again I would be more than happy to get involved with a community project to help put matters right, even throw a few bob at it if need be, but we have to involved HBC and local commercial interests to get realistic funding together…..any ideas? ……..Mrs Knight?

http://www.woodscape.co.uk/frame.htm

Mid Pennine have already contributed to a community project in the nature reserve, about three years ago. I wasn't with them then but by all accounts it was a difficult project to manage for a couple of reasons. Anyway, the output of it was a beautiful carved shelter type area and some willow weaving sculptures - all designed to be temporary but not as temporary as it turned out. Within one week, the sculptures were ripped down and the shelter had grafitti all over it. After another week when they'd tried to set the shelter on fire a couple of times it was taken down.

Another attempt at making the area nice with some more willow weaving a few months ago has probably gone up in smoke with the latest fire.

I live right next to the reserve as well and know all too well what goes on in there. Ironically, I had only spoken to our new community beat officer PC O'Boyle on Monday night about the general problems in the area. He is also well aware of them and is creating a heavier police presence around the area to deter them, unfortunately he can't be there all the time and certainly not at around 2 in the morning.

It's such an enclosed area that the kids can get in there without anyone seeing them and can hide out drinking and doing drugs in the knowledge that they're out of view.

I don't see it as so much a nature reserve problem as an issue that we have in general with the youths of the town. Because when we move them out of the nature reserve they shift up to rhyddings park and vice versa. We have to start communicating with them and providing something to give them some pride in the area instead of them wanting to vandalise everything. As an example, in Brierfield MPA did a project in one of the worst areas in the town for young disaffected asian men. MPA engaged them and got them to create a peace garden which they did with great pride. Five years later that garden is still there and in exactly the same condition. The guys who did it make sure that all the little old dears in the town feel comfortable using it and they make sure it's kept clean. They were invited down to a special party at the Eden project in Cornwall to talk about how they achieved this and why this small area of land has come to mean so much to the community and how it is looked after.

I'm not suggesting an arts project is the way to go here but we need something that they can own and take pride in, whether it's tree planting or art or something else and how we go about doing something like this in Oswaldtwistle I don't know but we have to do something soon or these thugs will start having kids themselves and instilling the same lack of pride in them.

[garinda]

Report from my bedroom window last night-

All quiet. Which is understanable, because the mindless numpties have burnt the benches they used to sit on. Like Gayle said though, they won't have stopped being anti-social, they'll have just gone to somewhere else that has benches for their sorry arses to rest on.

Again like Gaye said, something does need to be done to try and instill in these idiots some pride in our environment, which I don't think they have realised they live in as well.

[Gayle]

I think I've seen the forming of a plan!

Today I had to shout at two different groups of 10/11/12 year old boys for two different reasons. The first ones were dead heading the hanging baskets and plants outside the Stop and Rest with big sticks and the second lot wandered into my back garden without asking (they said they were looking for the local lost cat but they'd mistaken my cat for it).

Anyway, I was cross with both groups for what was basically being inconsiderate. After I'd calmed down and started to think about it I began to think that they were just bored. Six weeks of holiday but they had nothing to do - the first group were roaming the streets looking for something to do and admittedly the second group thought they were doing something constructive by searching for the lost cat.

So, my point is that it is at that age that we need to reach the kids - we need football coaching, drama sessions, organised events, music lessons, and all manner of other things organised by the community and mostly free so that it doesn't exclude anyone.

[Debbie J]

There used to be events all over the borough in the 6 week holidays. Punch and Judy e.t.c for young ones and games/activities for older ones. They were free! What happened to them? If the powers that be decided they were too expensive fine, but how much more is it costing in repairs to vandalised areas because the kids are bored.

[Ber999T]

Yes Debbie I recall the events that the council used to put on in the park (Gatty, Milnshaw etc) for kids on the main hols at this time of year. Heard advert on radio (2BR) for Hyndburn Sports Center and they charding £8.50 a day (inc lunch) for 8-12yo to attened adn swim and other sports. No free events have been planned by HBC as far as I'm aware.

Shame for the nature reserve know it quite well both through work and used to take kids there when they were young.

[garinda]

Slightly off track I know, but parents must bear some of the responsibility for their childrens actions.

Another example of vandalism is the damage mini motor bikes do to the sports fields.

I know of one well known business man who takes his primary school aged children to ride about on the Hey's football fields. He then retires to the pub, leaving his little darlings to plough up the fields whilst he ploughs into a beer. He isn't the only parent who lets their kids have these motor bikes and than lets them damage the sports fields.

One day, one member of a football team is going break their leg in one of the deep trenches that these bikes make.

I know one member on here who knows the father in question, perhaps they could inform him that the fields are now under surveilance, as the police are keen to gather any CCTV evidence which will lead to a prosecution if caught.

[lettie]

I also used to go to the playschemes organised for the summer holidays, and it was free. Used to go to the one on Highams playing field, did my cycling proficiency test etc. They are running football coaching sessions on Highams at the moment, don't know if it's free though but there seem to be plenty of boys and girls up there in the mornings when I'm walking my dog.

[garinda]

Just a note.

The story of the fire at the nature reserve is in both tonight's Lancashire Evening Telegraph and this week's Accrington Observer.

Both papers have mistakes in their copy. The LET says the fire was started in the early hours of Monday, when it was in fact it was in the early hours of Tuesday. The Observer writes that a fisherman's hut had been destroyed in the blaze, when no such hut ever existed, and would anyway have been a bit odd at a nature reserve. So much for the accuracy of our local press.

The good news is that according to the LET, the Lancashire Wildlife Trust that run the site are seeking new funding to repair the viewing platform, and are determined not to let the vandals win.

[Doug]

I was just thinking has anyone got any photos of the nature reserve and can anyone take a shot so we can see the damage that’s been done by these idiots, I ask for the record as well as out of interest.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Doug

I was just thinking has anyone got any photos of the nature reserve and can anyone take a shot so we can see the damage that’s been done by these idiots, I ask for the record as well as out of interest.

There was a large photograpg of the damaged viewing platform in tonight's Lancashire Evening Telegraph. Sadly I can't find it on their website, sorry.

If you would like me to post the newspaper cutting to you, pm your address.

Thw nature reserve does has a website, whose address is foxhill-bank.org.uk

[Doug]

Thanks for the link Rindy, keep hold of the clipping and have a look at it at the meet unless anyone comes up with one in the mean time. Can you give a description of the image? Is it really a mess or is it just a matter of replacing the items that were destroyed?