MUMS and children staged a sit-in to reclaim a Kidderminster park and save an historic building from vandals.

The group of four mothers and their young children occupied the newly-refurbished Broadwaters Mill on Friday and Saturday evening and stood up to a crowd of up to 40 drunken teenagers.

Police were called on Friday and spoke to a group of youths after being told of threats to burn down a tree sculpture being made for the occasion by a craftsman over the weekend.

Mother-of-five Kate Lane now wants more residents to make a stand by showing they are not prepared to let the yobs take over the park.

"It's created a sense of community because our neighbourhood is under threat," she said. "We weren't scared. These kids weren't aggressive, they just looked bored. They've got nowhere to go.

"They were dropped off in cars. Most of them were staggering around blind drunk. We wanted to show them that the park is uncool. It's for mums and children."

The sit-in included a barbecue on Saturday night and the families plan to meet up again on coming weekends to deter loutish behaviour.

"We wanted to stop the mill being vandalised and it worked," said 36-year-old mother-of-two Jackie Harper. "We stood our ground and they eventually got fed up. We wanted to show that this is a place where people can meet in safety and children should be able to play. It's been done up and it's very nice." mums Kate Lane, Tracy Pitt, Jackie Harper and Linda Giles, with Mike Abraham, who stood up to yobs at Broadwaters.

The mums took action after vandal attacks threatened official celebrations this week marking the end of a 12-month "revitalising" project costing £65,000.

New roof tiles and seating have been put in and work carried out on the walls and nearby weirs in the stream. But the celebrations came under threat from a new wave of attacks by vandals as soon as the work was finished.

"There was graffiti on the walls and bottles smashed everywhere. Some of the roof tiles were smashed and the seats were damaged," said Lesley Fox, Wyre Forest District council community development officer.

"The problems seem to be from youngsters moved on from other areas of the town."

Mike Abraham, of Broadwaters Post Office, who has been on the project's steering committee through 12 months of planning, also joined the sit-in in a bid to make the park a no-go area for the vandals.

"We went to look after the place. It's a nice gateway into Kidderminster. We don't want it to be spoiled," he said.

Linda Giles, a 39-year-old mother-of-two, said they were prepared to go back to the park again on Friday and Saturday this week.

"We were all annoyed when we heard about the vandalism," she said.

"We can't be there all the time but hopefully we can get the message across to these kids and they'll go away."

Police confirmed they had reports of vandalism over previous weeks and had been called to the park on Friday where they spoke to youths seen drinking. No arrests were made.