Vandals in second wrecking spree in a week at Burntwood Cricket club

Burntwood St Matthew's Cricket Club, which has about 60 members including three teams for juniors, has been left with 'a great big hole' in the roof after offenders struck at the site for the fourth time since July over the weekend. Vandals smashed through the roof, pulled down expensive netting and smashed tiles during the latest attack on the changing rooms, off Nightingale Walk, Burntwood. The club's chairman said work to repair damage, which has always been done by club members, could spiral into the thousands. John Farmer said: "The nets have been wrecked. All the netting has been pulled down and the roof has been smashed through. There is a great big hole. You can see through to the sky. "We have an ongoing problem. We have had to repair the roof four times since April. We have been getting it done with club members. "By Friday and Saturday the nets were wrecked and a whole row of tiles were smashed and reported to the police. "This morning we have discovered they have smashed through the tiles, the roof and ceiling. We don't think they have been in the building." The club's senior team won promotion from the Staffordshire Clubs Championship Division 3 at the weekend after a match in Fordhouses only to discover more damage had been created. Mr Farmer said: "It is not a new building and we have been looking to improve the facilities. It isn't like there is a bar for them to break into, it's just changing rooms. We were away at the weekend and gained promotion . . . and then you see this. I have got a meeting with the police officer tomorrow morning." He added: "It will be hundreds of pounds, maybe over a thousand. The netting itself is £200-odd pounds. It is disheartening when you are constantly getting damage and having to spend money which we obviously have to fund ourselves. "Normally there are two or three reports of incidents a year but at the moment it's sort of escalated." A Staffordshire Police spokesman said officers had been called there yesterday and on Sunday after reports of criminal damage over the weekend. That follows another report last Wednesday.