A PARK in Fishguard will have to close to children this week after callous vandals have covered nearly every piece of equipment in Gorilla Glue.

The sad news comes in the same week that the Lota Project, whose members have tirelessly fundraised for the park for the past seven years, announced that it has secured £45,000 funding to buy at least four new pieces of equipment.

The project has already made huge progress in renovating what was once a delapidated park to make it something both parents and children of all ages could enjoy.

In recent years it has installed a zip wire, a large round swing, a gravity bowl, two new multi play installations, a new sea saw and springers.

This has been made possible through a mixture of fundraising, donations from groups, individuals, the town council and support from the county council and Welsh Government.

The damage was spotted by local parent, Cerys Blockwell when she took her son Levi to play at the park on Tuesday, March 2.

"Every single item in the baby park is covered in this extremely sticky stuff (I assume to be glue or syrup)," she warned others on social media.

"All of the handles, swings, slide, seesaw all completely covered. How can someone do this to children I will never know, especially with everything that's going on."

"It's very heartbreaking," she told the Western Telegraph. "As everything is closed, I can't take my son swimming, to indoor play, zoos etc.

"I don't drive so this is the only place I can take him, and now that's gone as well. It was also very hard to explain to a two-year-old why he couldn't play in the park after walking all the way down there."

Tracy Cullen, from the Lota Project said that the park will have to be closed while a specialist company is employed to clean up the damage.

"We are very sad to report that nearly every piece of new equipment we have added to the park has been covered in Gorilla Glue," she said.

"Unfortunately, we will have to close the park and get specialist cleaners into remove it. It is extremely disheartening for us to work so hard for the community only for a small minority to spoil it for everyone."