VANDALS who have destroyed shelters in Sutton Park have left villagers working on a massive restoration project devastated and disheartened.

A committee of residents have worked hard to obtain £110,000 of lottery money to restore the park to its Edwardian splendour and months of effort have gone into the project which is nearing completion.

But the vandalism has set the committee back both financially and time-wise and chairman of the group Barbara Smith says there are now doubts whether it will even be finished.

She told the Herald: "This is the first bit of vandalism in the park since the project began. One of the shelters has been absolutely wrecked, and there is graffiti in the ladies' toilet. It is very upsetting.

"The shelters really are a worry. They are the most expensive part of the project and now they are going to cost us twice as much as they were before. This is very disheartening to the committee and we are wondering whether we can really go on with it.

"The shelters were based on the original design and were specially made. The vandals have wrecked part of the history of the park."

She added that the vandalism had meant the toilets would now not be left open to the public, but opened on request. "The public can blame whoever has caused the trouble for that," she said.