THE dedication and hard work of a group of volunteers has been ruined after vandals struck in Hoylake.

Volunteers from the Help Shop and Melrose Ladies spent hours cutting out flags and stitching them to tape before hanging their home-made bunting in Market Street in a bid to make the town look even prettier ahead of the Festival of First and the Open Golf.

Everyone was really pleased with the result, with shoppers commenting on how pretty the 2,000 metre bunting looked and how much it brightened the area.

But on Sunday, those behind the decorations were met by a nasty shock when they found their hard work had been ripped down.

“Not only had they pulled it down, they had ripped it all up too,” said Jackie Hall MBE, from The Help Shop.

“What kind of individual comes into Hoylake and does that?”

Jackie added: “We spent two months making it, cutting out the triangles and sticking 2,000m of it up.

“We had volunteers up ladders putting it up – it has been up all week and everybody has said how lovely it is.

“We did it to make Hoylake look pretty for the Open and the Festival of Firsts and now we are going to have to do it all again.

“People may say they were just having a bit of fun but excuse me, I don’t consider that fun at all.”

More than 200,000 golf fans are expected to flood into the area when the tournament kicks off next week.