Tags written in marker pen or  spray-painted onto shopfronts, fences and walls have proven difficult, and costly, to remove.

One city trader the Mercury spoke to last year took a never-say-die attitude against one vandal who targeted a wall outside his business.

Each time the trader painted over the ugly vandalism the culprit would return the following night to paint a tag on the wall again.

Persistence finally paid off for the trader and the vandalism stopped.

He won the war.

It’s also pleasing to see Rotary clubs  across the city slowly winning their war against graffiti vandals.

The club members seek out areas that have been vandalised and either remove or paint over the graffiti.

Rotarian James Caldon told the Mercury that Maitland had been a hot spot for graffiti in recent years, but with regular clean-ups they’re  “seeing a bit less of it now."

“We tend to see an increase during school holidays and during the ­summer months, particularly when the nights are longer,” Mr Caldon said.

The anti-graffiti painters have also become experts in their field, obliterating all traces of graffiti vandals' tag names and their work.

But the war isn’t over yet.

The Rotary clubs of Maitland Sunrise, East Maitland and Rutherford Telarah are now calling for volunteers to join with them and NSW government workers on Graffiti Removal Day on Sunday, October 26 to rid our city of this vandalism.

If you can help, a list of clean-up sites is available  at www.graffitiremovalday.org.au.

Please help.