VANDALS brought havoc to two villages causing damage and terrorising residents.

They dug holes in a Golborne bowling green and smashed up a newly-planted trough at Gin Pit.

Now fed up residents are calling for more police patrols and Golborne councillor Peter Franzen has offered to help them set up their own action groups to fight the problems.

Bowlers at Intex Sports and Social Club, who work hard to maintain the green themselves, arrived on Sunday to discover the lock smashed off the gate and sods dug out of the surface.

The incident is the latest in a series of attacks on the bowling section. Last year vandals smashed up the main bowling hut and in the last few weeks they have set the visitors' cabin on fire and bombed the green with mud.

A society spokesman said the small band of bowlers look after the green themselves and plant borders to make it into a lovely spot.

He said: "It is wrong what is going on. One of the bowlers, aged over 80, has actually been stoned by youngsters while he was bowling."

On Monday the team was striving to repair the green in time for their evening match.

Large trough

At Gin Pit the secretary of the residents' Association, Peter Guy, said there had been a spate of fencing vandalism in the past six weeks.

In the early hours of Saturday a large trough he had cast, planted up and placed under the Maden Street sign was lifted of its plinth and smashed to pieces.

He said: "It is soul destroying when all the village works together to brighten up the area for everyone's benefit and something stupid like this happens. Personally it hardens my resolve. We won't be beaten by such vandals".

Cllr Franzen said: "Vandals are making people's lives a misery in this area and I have had reports of residents being terrorized.

"One man reported a youth walking into his flat at 5.20pm on Monday and half an hour later two girls threw a lighted jacket at his door. It's like mental torture day in and day out and some people are too scared to speak out.

"I am trying to get residents' groups set up throughout the area so that people can gain a bit more confidence and get together to deal with such problems instead of being forced to hide behind curtains. I think this is going to be one way forward.

"If anyone wants to contact me to find out about starting up a group I'll give all the support I can. It's one way of people controlling their community instead of leaving it to the yobs."