Vandals cause widespread damage at Bexhill cricket club

At some time between the evening of Sunday, December 31, 2017, and early morning of Monday, January 1, 2018, the cricket club, at Polegrove Sports Ground, was broken into and money – including a charity pot – was stolen from the premises.

Johnathan Haffenden, 34, who helped run the bar during the summer, was one of the first to find the damage on New Year’s Day.

He said: “I received a phone call from the chairman who asked me, as I am local, to get down to the club on Monday and examine the damage.

“When I got down there, I was shocked by the level of damage.

“We had two doors to the shed broken into out the back of the clubhouse. They got into the fenced off area and caused lots of damage.

“They smashed up the glass to the backdoor and then went straight into the club room.

“They have smashed up another door, which happens to be a fire door and would have taken some effort to damage.

“There was a charity pot on the bar which they have also taken. This pot had been there for a long time and had collected a large amount of money but I couldn’t tell you exactly how much. There was probably more money in there than people realise.

“They took money from the till, spirits from behind the bar and pulled the television off the wall causing a lot of damage.”

Mr Haffenden said the incident had been reported to police before he got to the club.

A police spokesman said: “Police spoke to a member of Bexhill Cricket Club on January 2 about a possible break in at the club.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact police online quoting serial 943 of 1/1.”

Mr Haffenden added: “It is just really frustrating really. We have no idea how much it will cost to repair and most of the members won’t have seen the damage as it’s not cricket season.

“We are in the process of trying to sort it out but it’s going to take a long time.”