A VANDAL-BLIGHTED community recreation area is £300 better off thanks to a donation from Milford Haven’s Tesco store.

Hubberston Recreation Area was hit by vandals on the evening of April 23, with fencing damaged and graffiti left on equipment.

Julie Hawkins, who was instrumental in setting up the park with her husband Mark nearly two decades ago, told the Milford Mercury the cost of the vandalism would hit the park, developed from a fundraising campaign: “It’s disheartening, 18 years I’ve put in to that park.

“We set that park up 18 years ago when we set up the association, it was a lot of hard work finding the funding, and you can’t go back to the same people asking for money.

“I had a message last night [April 23] from a lady to say she had seen two boys get in and pick up a paint can and get in to the skate park.”

She added: “The gates are the main problem, somebody is actually cutting them; we’ve had to actually tie them up.

“It’s going to be one of those kids that goes through the hole and gets hurt; it’s been happening over several years, but the three gates are being targeted now, it’s always money, money to repair them, anything that has to be done we have to pay for, people don’t seem to grasp that.”

Following the plight of the park, Debbie Mills, community champion at Tesco Milford Haven, raised funds to help it.

“We recently donated £300 to Hubberston Recreation Park after reading their story in Milford Mercury a few months ago regarding vandalism at the park,” said Debbie.

“We held a collection in Tesco Milford Haven and also organised a bingo night to raise the funds.”