The Queen Street park near the Kangaroo Flat Community House has become inundated with binge drinkers as young as 12 years old, according to Kangaroo Flat Community Group co-ordinator Elaine McNamara.

Ms McNamara said a young girl in the centre’s school holiday program was recently cut by glass left under playground swings.

She has organised an urgent meeting to discuss the problem.

Mayor David Jones and Bendigo police Inspector Paul Newman, along with managers of several liquor outlets, have been invited to Thursday’s meeting.

In a letter to media outlets, Ms McNamara writes that a campaign should be launched to stop “children as young as 12 years of age . . . having drinking orgies in the playground’’.

She told The Advertiser yesterday that staff now took extra caution to clear drinking debris from the playground to ensure other children didn’t get hurt.

But she said she was far more concerned that young binge drinkers were setting themselves up for lifetimes of alcohol addiction by continuing their damaging practices.

“Teenagers getting hung up on grog is the worst thing that can happen,’’ Ms McNamara said.

“One thing leads to another and I think it’s ruining their lives.

“It’s sad they’ve got nothing to do other than sit down in a playground and drink grog.’’

Ms McNamara said she was determined to return the park to the local families it was intended for, and to safeguard the future of Kangaroo Flat’s troubled teens.

“We just want to stop them drinking alcohol in playgrounds where kids should be coming to play,’’ she said.

“City of Greater Bendigo spent $30,000 on the playground not so long ago, and then you come and find teenagers or older kids have wrecked it.

“When it first opened there were swarms of little kids and their parents, now the parents won’t let their kids come here because teenagers are drinking here.

“They’re ruining it for other kids to enjoy.

“They’re getting the grog somewhere; if we can cut off their supply and get them doing something positive in their life - because some of them are just babies, some of the ones I’ve seen can’t be more than 12 years old.’’

The meeting will be held at Kangaroo Flat Community House, Woolcock Avenue at 2pm Thursday.