VANDALS attacked a play area in Evesham lighting fires and damaging wooden play leaving new equipment unusable.

Orchard and Spring Vale Children’s Centre staff were horrified and upset when they discovered their Forest School site had been attacked on the morning of Wednesday, August 13.

The damage to the area of the 4 Children owned centre was discovered prior to the arrival of a group, which had been organised for local families for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Families had been hoping to take full advantage of cooking in the clay oven, climbing on the pirate ship and experiencing a wide range of outdoor activities.

Unfortunately the vandals had lit fires and damaged the over and pirate ship.

All the stops were pulled out in order for this session to still go ahead, by cordoning off areas of the site and reducing the amount of activities.

The staff and parents were particularly upset with the damage to the clay oven, as they along with staff from Evesham Adventure Playground helped to build the oven, and this was the first time they were going to use it to cook pizza.

And it's not the first time the centre has been the victim of vandalism.

In January last year youngsters at Orchard and Spring Vale Children’s Centre were left bitterly disappointed when it was discovered the newly-developed area created for their forest school had been damaged.

Aimee Williams, 4Children forest school leader, said: "It was shocking to see the level of damage at our Forest School site as not only does this affect our ability to offer a full range of experiences for local children, but it is also disheartening for the parents, who have given up their time to develop and maintain the site."

The damage is believed to have been caused between 12.30pm on Wednesday, July 30, and 11.30am on Wednesday, August 13.

Police were informed and regular patrols of the area will now take place.

Anyone with information should contact the police on 101 and quote incident number 0258S130814.