VOLUNTEERS at Burnham-on-Sea BMX Club say they have been broken into twice in the last month despite encouraging youths to join their club.

Sue Cornelieus, a volunteer at the club, which is based just off Marine Drive, claims large groups of young people from surrounding housing estates have broken into the club after hours twice in the last month and vandalised their facilities.

Sue claims fences, windows, office facilities at their clubhouse and equipment have been damaged and is urging young people to join the club to crackdown on the issue.

She said: “This is not a new thing for us as we have had problems like this for years.

“In the last year it has got worse, we have seen groups of 15-20 children come into the club after hours and damage things.

“We have had two break-ins in the last two months and it needs to stop as a few people are ruining the facility for everybody.

“We have only recently upgraded facilities at the club but windows to our clubhouse and our hut have been smashed, fences have been cut open and equipment has been damaged by people trespassing.

“We have been reaching out to young people and have even spoken to some of the children we have seen on the premises and asked them to join the club but it is still going on.”

Sue said volunteers have spent hours of their time reinforcing fences around the club in a bid to keep trespassers out and have even had to start doing night patrols on the site to ensure it is safe.

“We have been working with the police to try and stop this from happening and they advised us to get some CCTV cameras, which we have now installed, so we can see what is going on.

“It is not safe for them to be in here after hours and its not safe for our volunteers either.

“I would really like to encourage any young people in the area to come and join the club – we have a great facility and a great bunch of volunteers and we would be happy to have them,” added Sue.

The Weekly News has contacted Avon and Somerset Police for a comment on the matter.