Burton Cricket Club volunteers left devastated after vandals destroy and steal from club

One of the region's oldest cricket clubs says it might permanently close its doors after vandals broke into the club and destroyed years of volunteers' hard work.

Burton Cricket Club was found broken into by the club's head groundsman Ray McGuinness on October 28th last week.

Vandals knocked down part of the exterior wall to access the club after they were unsuccessful in getting through the main front door.

Not only was the outside of the club damaged the inside was "completely destroyed" says the Chairman of the club, Dave North.

Speaking to ITV News Central he said: "We came down to the club and noticed the gates were broken into, so on investigation walking round to the front of the club, we noticed there was a hole in the brickwork, which has now been patched back up, two foot-square holes that they'd knocked down and tried to get back in.

"They tried breaking in through the front doors but didn't manage to do that. When we came in the mess was devastating.

"They've vandalised all of the upstairs and downstairs of the Pavillon, smashed all the toilet systems and the sinks off the walls, they stole the safe out of the strong room which had all the club keys in.

"They've removed the water tank which has flooded the kitchen and removed a lot of the water pipes."

Spray paint was used to write on walls and cover photos including the club's logo. Paint cans were left dripping onto the floor mixing with the water bursting out from removed water pipes.

Thousands of pounds in repairs are now needed to rebuild the club.

Being a self-funded club, Mr North said the repairs needed will be too costly for the club to cover alone.

Speaking to ITV News Central he said: "It'll be impossible for us to pay for all the repairs. We're a self-funding club.

"We're coming up to 200 years old. We struggle from year to year to survive and this could destroy the club.

"It's just unbelievable. We're all volunteers down here we all give our own time and for this, it's just so heartbreaking that people will actually do this.

"We provide a service to the local community for people to play cricket and it could quite possibly be destroyed."

Police said they were shocked to see people steal from the club but vandalise it too.

The club has set up a Crowdfunding page for people to donate money to help pay for repairs.

Their target is £20,000 and so far they've raised nearly 650 pounds.