VANDALS have attempted to set fire to the local cricket club pitch covers recently, adding to the escalating vandalism the club has faced in the past few months.
The press officer for the club, Dan Gill, says that when he pulled the covers off the pitch on Saturday 9th July, he initially found litter underneath but upon further investigation he says he found burn patches on the ground, indicating that someone had attempted to set alight to the pitch covers.
Dan said, “I arrived at the ground Saturday morning to do the final preparations for the game ahead, I took the covers off protecting the pitch from the sun to notice an awful lot of litter on the pitch.
“Further investigation took place, and I then noticed a foot by foot burnt patch with ash in the middle where something has clearly been set on fire. Luckily enough, the fire did not spread as this would of set alight the covers which are roughly £500-800 per cover, and we have four that were on that night.
“I am constantly reminding the youths who are aged between 13-15 to pick their litter up and to respect the Leighton Recreation Centre, but I am then often the recipient of some expletive language.”
Westbury and District Cricket Club is based at the Leighton Recreation Centre – a sports centre that is owned by Wiltshire Council.
The cricket club is allowed to use the green spaces at Leighton to play cricket, but it does not own the area, and as a result the club is not allowed to put up a fence or cameras to deter vandalism to the ground. The green spaces are maintained by the club which does not receive any outside funding to help with repairs caused by vandalism.
The cricket club has approached Wiltshire Council for an asset transfer of the site, but the club says talks are ongoing.
Earlier this month, the club had one of their sheds broken into, graffiti sprayed on sponsor boards and the £10,000 net system has also been damaged.
The White Horse News approached the local policing team for a comment but had received no response at the time of going to press.
