Burnley's very own 'A Team' spring into action to retrieve benches thrown onto frozen lake in popular park

Burnley's very own 'A Team' went on a rescue mission last night to retrieve benches that vandals had thrown onto a frozen lake in a park.
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The trio of friends,who call themselves the Northern Monkeys, went down to Thompson Park, armed with ropes, and pulled the six benches, that had been dragged onto the icy lake by vandals, back to their rightful homes.

The sterling efforts of Damion Whitton, Bruce-Lee Knowles and Chris 'Kipper' Taylor, earned them thanks and praise from hundreds of people who were sickened by the mindless vandalism at one of the town's most popular parks. Resident Andy Robinson, who takes daily walks in the park, posted images of the benches on social media, prompting an avalanche of angry comments.

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The Ormerod Road park underwent a major refurishment in 2018 and the six vandalised benches were among 70 that were restored single handedly by volunteer Steve Pycroft.

Andy Robinson took this photograph of three of the the benches on the ice at the lake in Burnley's Thompson Park.Andy Robinson took this photograph of three of the the benches on the ice at the lake in Burnley's Thompson Park.
Andy Robinson took this photograph of three of the the benches on the ice at the lake in Burnley's Thompson Park.

Damion said: "I live close to the park and when we heard what had happened we decided to sort it out.

"The benches are really heavy so it must have taken some effort to get them out there."

The trio were hailed as local heroes in September when they cleared a notorious fly tipping site in Cliviger, collecting 400 bags of rubbish between them. They are now regularly out and about exploring abandoned industial sites, caves, derelict buildings and other places of interest.