A GRANDFATHER-of-five was horrified to find graffiti had ruined a feature of his local park.

Mark Gillard regularly takes his grandchildren to Heywood Park to play where there are two large ornamental rocks.

The rocks are near to the playground in the park off High Street, Bolton and Mr Gillard, who lives in Langford Gardens explained he sometimes takes pictures of his grandsons on them during their regular visits to the park.

He said: “I'm furious about it. On Saturday evening, my nine-year-old eldest grandson, Caedon, went to climb on the rocks and he shouted me over, to draw my attention to the large stone of the two.

“He said ‘Grandad, look what someone has done, that’s just wrong.’

“We were both extremely upset, more so, because it limits the options when taking photographs.

"Caedon said to me, 'it's spoiled it for pictures'.

“It’s disgusting and it angers me. It's so frustrating that some inconsiderate souls have done that.”

Mr Gillard said he had emailed the council about the matter adding: “I explained to Caedon that some people don’t appreciate our local parks and facilities.

“It’s a great park, it's really popular, they have done some lovely things to it and in the summer it was packed.

"Someone has put something in their pocket to deface something with. I know we've always had graffiti but at a kid's play ground it's ridiculous."

While Mr Gillard said his grandson had not realised the significance of one of the images drawn, he said it could lead to parents have conversations they are not ready for with young children.

He said: "They drew a rude image and if younger kids see that they might ask questions and it can bring up conversations you don't want to be having."

Mr Gillard takes his grandsons, Caedon and Logan, aged seven, to the park on a daily basis for a walk after school.

He also takes his three other younger grandchildren to the park on occasion.

Mr Gillard did not know who was to blame for the graffiti but suspected the culprits were teenagers.

He said: “There’s a total lack of respect with a lot of teenagers these days. They don’t care about others around them and they don’t appreciate their surroundings.

"I was so angry after wards I posted on social media and called them vile scum."

A spokeswoman for Bolton Council said now they had been made aware of the graffiti they would be investigating the matter.