STAFF at a Daubhill nursery are counting the cost after a firework was pushed through a window and caused extensive smoke damage.

Youths are believed to be responsible for having broken through wire meshing which protects the windows of the recently opened Little Darlings nursery in Goldsmith Street.

A fire is thought to have started after they forced a firework through a gap between the wooden window-sill and glass.

The wood caught alight and a pile of toys which had been left on the window ledge was destroyed in the fire.

The basement room, which the nursery rents from Sunninghill Primary School, was heavily smoke-logged following the blaze at 6.20pm on Saturday.

Heartbroken staff spent yesterday clearing up and trying to salvage undamaged toys and paperwork.

Police are investigating the incident.

In a separate incident customers had to jump out of the way when a gang of youths threw a firework into a shop on Saturday.

The youths threw the firework through the door of a newsagents in Cumberland Avenue, Tyldesley, at 10.30pm before running away.

The shop was busy with customers, but the quick-thinking owners prevented a fire by dousing the firework with a dry-powder extinguisher.

Some goods in the shop suffered damage as the firework had rolled along an aisle and ignited boxes of tissues. Comment: Page 10