RESIDENTS who were horrified by vandalism caused to a Kidderminster park have formed a friends group to take care of it.

The Friends of Brinton Park has been set up with the aim of protecting the facility and ensuring it is kept neat and tidy to ensure people can enjoy it for years to come.

Made up of residents, the group is also looking to work with Wyre Forest District Council to bid of funding to drive forward improvements to the facilities in future.

Members decided to do something in the wake of a vandal attack which saw rubber matting set alight and severely damaged.

Resident Verity Worthington, whose three-year-old son Freddie regularly uses the play area and park, said news of the attack prompted her to post a message on the ‘Kidderminster Matters’ Facebook group.

The 36-year-old said: “I asked about whether there was a friends group for the park and whether we should set one up if there wasn’t and the response was huge.

“This is about instilling a bit of pride and community spirit in the area. We all use and enjoy the park and feel they could be as good as they generally used to be.

“This and other incidents have been very negative for Brinton Park but we want to turn this into a positive.

“The group is very informal and our first meeting was a litter pick which saw people of all ages come out and collect a lot of rubbish. I have been delighted with the support and reaction of everyone.”

She added she is working with Wyre Forest District Council’s Community Development Officer Lesley Fox on a bid for funding from the “Parks for People” Heritage Lottery Fund grant.

The authority was successful in achieving Stage 1 of the process and now has development funding of £250,000 to work up the next stage of the application – to be submitted in February 2020 – of which Friends of Brinton Park will be invited to take part in.

Lesley said: “It’s fantastic that this community group are interested in looking after their park.”