Vandalism in a memorial garden, a break in at a community hall and graffiti in Woodford Park have prompted Woodly Town Council to plead with schools and parents to have words with their kids.

Woodly Town Council has written to schools after what it describes as an increase in anti-social behaviour by young people over the summer.

The council says it had to close the Garden of Remembrance in Woodford Park – where residents can place tributes to their lost loved ones – during the evenings in August, due to damage to plants.

Yet the trouble continued, the council said, even after the gates were locked.

It also says a group of young people broke into Coronation Hall on Headley Road on August 7, damaging a door frame. And graffiti has appeared throughout Woodford Park, including on The Oakwood Centre.

Pictures show scrawlings sprayed all over picnic benches, bins and even tree trunks.

The council said on its website: “During the recent summer holidays, the Council experienced an increased number of incidents of anti-social behaviour from groups of children and young people on our grounds and at our facilities.

“Graffiti has particularly been a problem throughout Woodford Park, while the walls, windows and toilets of the Oakwood Centre were also graffitied.

“The Council also had to temporarily close the Garden of Remembrance in the evenings during August following a number of incidents of groups of young people damaging planting and obstructing access.

“We also had a group of young people break into Coronation Hall overnight, causing damage to the doorframe and a boiler pressure gauge.”

Woodley Town Council has written to secondary and primary schools following the incidents. It says it wants schools and parents to talk to their children about the importance of taking care of parks and the community.

In a letter dated September 6, the council’s Leisure Services Committee officer Matthew Filmore said: “We are kindly asking all schools within Woodley to raise this matter with students and parents to highlight the issue of anti-social behaviour locally, and to ask that everyone remains considerate of our parks and facilities which are used extensively by the community.”

Mr Filmore also said the council’s committee acknowledged that the young people responsible are “generally of secondary school or older.”

He also said they would likely attend a “variety” of schools, colleges and other educational settings “both inside and outside of Woodley.”