Cricket club loses £30k of kit in latest break-in

The future of Castor and Ailsworth Cricket Club's planned pavilion could be in jeopardy

A cricket club which has regularly fallen victim to break-ins said it has had a further £30,000 worth of equipment taken by thieves.

Joshua Weaver, secretary of Castor and Ailsworth CC near Peterborough, said he discovered the club's garage had been raided on Saturday morning.

After three years of planning work on a new pavilion, building started in June but the club will now consider pausing the project to make the site less appealing to thieves.

"We could get more secure units but if people truly want to get in they will make it happen anyway, so it's a case of looking at if we consider a more permenent structure," said Mr Weaver.

Three mowers were taken from a garage at Castor and Ailsworth Cricket Club

The club secretary had recently opened up about how regular break-ins had made running the club difficult.

He explained that intruders had now taken three mowers, a hose pipe and emptied a tank of diesel.

Two of the mowers the secretary had bought in the last week and paid with his own money and he added they were taken before he had a chance to submit an invoice to the club.

Mr Weaver said he has replaced the locks on the pavilion four times this season

Mr Weaver said: "Thankfully they did leave us one mower, so cricket can continue.

"If it wasn't for that, we'd be stuffed and have to pick something up in expense to the club.

"We're scrimping for pennies while we're building the new pavilion; we're having to be quite thrifty to keep the club moving forward.

"It's very frustrating but as bad as it sounds we've had so many now I'm a little numb to it. It's making it a challenging job - keeping a non-profit amateur sports club going."