A TEAM of volunteers have celebrated raising more than £2,000 to help keep a York park safe.

The Friends of West Bank Park in Holgate wanted to raise the money to pay a security firm to ensure the park gates would be locked overnight.

Volunteers open the park each morning, and a trial scheme using funding from Holgate Ward, saw crime and vandalism rates drop by about 50 per cent.

This year, the ward council can only cover half the bill required to pay the security company to lock the gates on an evening, so in December the Friends organised a fundraising campaign which met its £2,000 target this month.

Catherine Heinemeyer, from the group, said everyone was amazed that the funds had been raised in less than a month.

She said: “We’re completely delighted and so impressed with our local community and all the people in the area.

“It’s brought out all sorts of people who are active supporters of the park and want to show how much they value it. It gives us hope we will be able to keep the park in good condition for the foreseeable future.”

Catherine said the extra security should provide some protection for the ongoing improvements within the park as well, and about £500 of the final tally had been raised through donations at a carol concert before Christmas.

She said: “It means we can protect all the other investment people make in the park in different ways.

“It means we’re going to improve the playground this year, and we’ve planted a new orchard, and a lot of other volunteer groups are doing stuff in the par but it’s only worth doing if we can make sure vandalism stays at a low level and that’s what the gates do.”

Catherine said the community had really come together in recent months to support the park and the Friends, and she hoped to see the area improve further in coming months.

She said: “We would just like to thank everyone who contributed, who were mostly local families, and everyone who followed us on Facebook and Twitter.”

To find out more about the group or supporting the ongoing campaign to look after the park, go to westbankpark.org