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Play park closed due to fire - Councillor Jane Ives (19th Feb 2013 - 10:54:49) I have just heard from the parish office that there was a fire, started deliberately, in the play park that has destroyed the tunnel next to the slide. Because the structure is now dangerous the play park has had to be closed until such time as it can be made safe. If anyone knows anything about this act of vandalism please report it to the parish office or relevant authorities. I would also suggest that anyone digging through their washing basket and detecting an odour of fire might want to speak to the other members of their household. It is such a shame that a deliberate act like this can spoil the fun for countless children on a beautiful sunny half term day. Shame on you whoever did this.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Jack (19th Feb 2013 - 12:33:43) Play park is open and full seemingly. Shame on the vandals who set fire to the tunnel!

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Dave (19th Feb 2013 - 14:02:52) It's a great shame, is there any point in spending any further money on it for the same thing to happen again? - if you recall the last money spent was down to vandalism and disregard of facilities and it's happened again. Until the park is properly monitored, especially across the evenings when its meant to be officially closed (albeit still inhabited by older kids socially), it's a complete waste of time and resources for the village of Liphook to waste further monies - victory to the yob culture! My kids have stopped using the facility.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - tony (19th Feb 2013 - 19:56:16) You call it vandalism, I think that's being kind. I would call it arson and if they catch them they should be treated as serious criminals(I would say cane them, but oh no, that wouldn't be allowed) Either way the playpark needs to be repaired, we owe it to the young kids. If it was a bus stop or traffic light nobody would say "oh well leave it, we'll just do without traffic lights anymore" like someone said about the play park.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Helen Millard (19th Feb 2013 - 21:35:50) I've just read this, whilst I havent been down to the park today and seen the damage myself I feel so upset. Myself and a team of local ladies worked so hard to get the park refurbished, gathering petition's, village wide surveys and sourcing funding. It took 3 and a half years of constant battles and hard work to get this done. I am so gutted. What was the point?

Re: Play park closed due to fire - K (20th Feb 2013 - 00:06:35) It's a very big shame to see the play park has been vandalized yet again and that people have to spoil it for young children after the hard work that has gone into it if the culprit(s) are caught I think they should be named and shamed and made to repair and pay for the damage and made an example of instead of being given a slap on the rist with the illusion that they will get away with it again !!

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Paul Robinson (20th Feb 2013 - 08:16:50) Well said Helen. We at Bramshott and Liphook Parish Council will always be grateful for the positive effort you and other Mums in your team made towards giving the play park the makeover it deserved. The Council are taking steps to have the feature repaired as a matter of urgency, and, as you will have seen in last week's Liphook Herald we have been successful in securing funding for the repair of the older children's play area and the installation of a zip wire. We believe that the repeated arson attacks at the Recreation Ground, the Football Goal posts and the bowls club, are beyond vandalism and are indicative of a more serious problem. We ask that other parents and concerned villagers help us again by putting an end to this mindless and deliberate damage by reporting anything suspicious to the Council Office or to the Police. Councillor Paul Robinson

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Charlie (21st Feb 2013 - 12:03:39) Instead of complaining about all this and blaming it on the youth of today, why don't you take into consideration that maybe they have nothing better to do? Maybe its due to things going on at home or the fact there aren't enough clubs and things setup in Liphook? Instead of saying they should be treated as criminals and locked up and all that nonsense, how about thinking about the fact that perhaps they need help? Its adults like you that make me angry, blaming everything on them when in a way it's your fault, why not help out the community to stop these kind of things happening, rather than just complaining about it saying they should just be locked away. If more money was spent on them giving them things to do then perhaps they wouldn't have to result to this. Granted it was wrong for them to do this and they should be punished, but take a look at the bigger picture. All of you complaining about this matter on here does no good. I'm a teenager that lives in Liphook and there is nothing to do at all. Which is why people that do things like that need help and more things to do in Liphook.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Jay W (21st Feb 2013 - 15:13:55) Charlie, you are partly right in what you say but it is the adults who have organised the refurbishing of the playpark for the younger children and adults who give up their time to run the Liphook Football Club - both of which have been targets for vandalism. Having said that, who knows for sure who caused this latest damage? It could easily have been a so-called "adult" over 18 years of age. People have to be responsible for their own actions, be they adult or "youth of today". You cannot blame acts of vandalism on having nothing to do. Everyone has a choice. There was even less to do in Liphook when I was growing up but I never dreamt of vandalising what little we had. I am sure even when the other side of the Rec is refurbed for older kids, there will be someone who will think it acceptable to try and wreck that as well ............... it's always been the same and sadly, probably always will be.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - H (21st Feb 2013 - 18:06:25) I sympathise to an extent where I was growing up there was nothing to do either for most of the time apart from a youth club run by the church, but I just enjoyed meeting up with friends. We got up to a bit of mischief together but it would not have occurred to me I am bored what vandalism can I do because I am bored?

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Peter (21st Feb 2013 - 21:52:17) Charlie's contribution is presumably a wind-up? I do hope so. Surely nobody could seriously suggest that yobs setting fire to playground equipment is somehow the fault of local people for not "providing enough" for local kids to do. Nothing to do in Liphook? Try reading a book, going running, riding a bike, playing sport, spending time with friends or family, volunteering, taking up a hobby. Lose your attitude, realise the world doesn't owe you a living, and grow up.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Eb (22nd Feb 2013 - 08:13:24) Peter Not a nice way to speak to a teenager but I Supose that's what this sites all about "just expressing our opinions" but its not is it as you don't know him, he does all the things you suggested and works part time he's the last person to think the world owes him anything. He also said maybe these young people need help. I have seen plenty of 18+ in the rec at night could have been them maybe, they might need to get a job. When we were young didn't we all say the same thing there's nothing to do in the village and I remember seeing graffiti in the play park and swinging on the swings when I was teenager. Lets all try and set an example to the youths of today!

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Paul Robinson (23rd Feb 2013 - 20:05:43) As a rule, I usually make a point of only replying to posts where a full name is given, but I was so moved by Charlie's heartfelt plea for 'something to do' that I clicked on the Clubs and Societies link on the left hand side of this page and found the following links: After School (Bohunt) Archery Army Cadet Force Badminton (x 2) Haslemere Border Running Club Judo Cricket Football Modellers Club Tennis Table Tennis Youth Club And many others. O.K., Thorpe Park it aint, but its got to be better than hanging around a child's play area in the cold and dark at three o'clock in the morning. Paul Robinson

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Eb (24th Feb 2013 - 07:05:11) And of course you need money to do all of these things we are not all well off!, i don't think people are understanding his comment not everyone can afford these clubs he does play football and does after school clubs and it wasn't about what he does. As I said before its not necessarily school age children I was woken at midnight by a bunch of boys screaming shouting in the rec last night judging by the names I heard being shouted they are all 18+. And as I said didn't we all say the same when we were young!

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Jane Ives (24th Feb 2013 - 08:27:34) It's a shame that this thread has moved away from the main subject. Reading through the comments at the beginning of this thread I don't believe anyone was blaming teenagers for doing this. It could have been teenagers or it could have been adults. The point really is that we need to find out who is causing this deliberate damage in our village and ruining it for others. It is a totally mindless act. As for whether there is enough for young people to do, then maybe there isn't but that is a long held feeling by the young. I remember saying it myself...while you feel too old for some of the clubs that school provide, but not old enough to have the money to take part in more attractive pursuits. Having two teenagers myself I hear it often but the point is most teenagers would not go out and cause wilful damage. Most of them are good and moral people who just want to hang around with their friends. Whoever has done this, young or old, needs to be caught and stopped, and my point in originally starting this thread is to raise awareness that this is going on and hopefully someone will see something and report it to the police. Let's all focus on this.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Eneida (24th Feb 2013 - 09:52:15) Would it be possible to instal a CCTV camera to keep an eye on the play areas ??...might be cheaper than having to constantly replace the equipment...

Re: Play park closed due to fire - councillor B Easton (24th Feb 2013 - 12:31:38) I sympathise with those who could not use the playpark at half term. I recently went up to London Docklands and there were many nurseries for the office workers, outside every nursery was a sign, NO PHOTOGRAPHING ALLOWED IN THE AREA. The initial expense and ongoing expense of CCTV outweighs the possibility of it deterrng the culprits, what usually happens is that the CCTV cameras are seen and then damaged. That has happened at the Millennium Hall.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Paul Robinson (24th Feb 2013 - 15:31:23) I am pleased to confirm that the play park is open including the slide. Parents and Guardians are asked to prevent their charges from straying into the roped off area around the collapsed tunnel as we are unable to accept any responsibilty of any injury or damage resulting from this criminal damage. Paul Robinson

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Charlie Bennett (25th Feb 2013 - 22:30:46) Peter, For starters, no my comment was not a wind up and I wasn\'t rude to you so I\'m not too sure why you feel the need to be rude to me? And yes, some of my points may have been incorrect and not completely correct, that was simply due to the fact that sometimes topics like this annoy me and I couldn\'t articulate the points I wanted to get across very well. I myself have never done things like set fire to the playpark, but I know of a few people that would do such a thing and I feel sorry for some of them. Not all of us teenagers are like that but it tends to be people such as you that label us all as yobs and thugs wwhereas actually we\'re not. Judging by your comment I would assume you don\'t have any teenage children but if you do I think perhaps you should rethink what you wrote. People I know of that would or have done things like this aren\'t the best behaved children and usually its due to family problems. I can understand why adults would be angry by vandalism and things like that, it annoys me too that people waste their time doing that. All I\'m saying is that perhaps they need some element of help- if it was teenagers. I apologise for going off topic eariler, perhaps no one did mention about teenagers doing this but that was my initial interpretation. Also, in response to another comment, I think the reason people don\'t use their full name on this website is because of people like Peter that feel the need to be rude towards people they don\'t even know. And Peter I appreciate your comment of you telling me to grow up, but I do consider myself to be fairly mature but at the end of the day I am a 16 year old boy and you are an adult (I assume).

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Jane Ives (26th Feb 2013 - 18:50:19) Charlie, thanks for your reply and explanation. You sound very grown up to me!! We all know, I hope, that most teenagers are pretty good on the whole and now is not the time for anyone to point the finger without knowing the facts. But facts are what we need. I would urge anyone with any information, especially now Maureen has reported vandalism at Little Cherubs, to come forward and report it. We seem to have a problem, and it is probably only 1 or 2 people that are involved. But the rest of us should be vigilant and report anything suscipious to the local police.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Eb (27th Feb 2013 - 07:15:07) I was woken at midnight by youths in the rec Saturday night, screaming and shouting, I called the police recently when some boys were running over the roof of the football club but they had gone by the time they got there. I agree they do need to be caught.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Jane Ives (27th Feb 2013 - 07:54:21) Eb, I think that is what everyone should do. We need to make sure the police are informed whenever there is a problem so hopefully, eventually, whoever is doing this is caught.

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Carol (4th Mar 2013 - 11:48:18) I have just visited the play park today and seen the damage. I am surprised that no-one else has mentioned the bench that was used to draw on using sticks and the molten black plastic from the tunnel. Quite clearly this 'artwork' has been signed with the names 'Luke' and 'Eva'. I have photographed this. Surely these names must mean something to an acquaintance or a parent or two out there! Happy to forward the photographs for viewing if editor can tell me how. Will forward to council, I am sure there was a link address on another thread to do with dog fouling. Just email the picture to editor@liphook.co.uk

Re: Play park closed due to fire - Anonymous (5th Mar 2013 - 13:26:25) I think the term "teenage yobs" or "the youth" are being thrown around like some kind of scape goat, this isn't London, we don't have gangs wandering the streets robbing people, there is no gun and crime culture, and nothing of such extremity. Yet to add to this, this obviously isn't a problem with the majority, otherwise it would be a far worse off village..... The problem is, is that kids ARE bored, it's nobody else's fault, apart from the one who is bored. Only they can decide to be bored, it's not programmed into their minds via lack of public attraction for the younger ages. That aside, it is horrible what has happened to the park, I used to go there as a child, how ever it should not lead to the antagonisation of all youth in the local area. I could pick out various people from history who have picked out and antagonised a group of people, and it has just lead to more trouble. The fact is, instead of worrying about the kids as a whole, you should be focusing on the people who ARE bad, you can't possibly say a whole generation is filled with yobs?

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