Shoebury community groups hit by 'senseless vandalism'

Residents and business owners in Shoebury have reported vandalism taking place at St Mary’s Church Hall, which suffered repeated break-in attempts that have left the hall closed off, the front door smashed and community groups worried about future events.

Shoebury Bowls Club in Shoebury Park, off Elm Road, was also vandalised, with their green being torn up, bowls stolen, and adjacent public toilets smashed up.

Sue Marchant, club secretary, has condemned the “meaningless nuisance damage” and believes the acts have been carried out by those with nothing better to do.

She said: “There have been a number of incidents like this on our green, which began as nuisance damage and on Saturday, escalated when they took some of our woods and took other things.It was nuisance behaviour.

“It is so aimless, an annoyance and it has been repaired now but we have lost a couple of things ad we just haven’t found them.

“We are irritated, and we hope whoever did it doesn’t come back.”

Shoebury residents association chair, Peter Lovett, is furious at the damage done to St Mary’s Church Hall and believes it will only impact groups like his that rely on the hall to host activities.

He said: “It is so unnecessary, they have nothing in there except for a couple of tables and chairs.

“I’ve been in there so many times and this is just senseless vandalism.

“We use it for our coffee mornings and it is a shame because everyone there works so hard for the community and for the church.”

Shoebury Tory councillor, Nick Ward, condemned the attacks on the toilets as a “real shame” and a “waste of everybody’s time.”

He said: “We have had them set on fire before and we should be making better use of our cameras, but we can’t really have them in the toilets.

“It is a real shame, its down to boredom and mischief and it takes up such a huge amount of time and effort to get them repaired, all at the cost of the taxpayer.”