Two of the jewels in the crown of Broomfield Park, the Greenery café and the Conservatory, were broken in to on the night of 17/18 February. Both of these are run on a non-profit making basis by teams of volunteers.
The Greenery suffered the most damage. A tree trunk seat was thrown through one window and another window was broken, probably as an easier exit route. The tree trunk was thrown through with enough force to break the metal security bars on the inside of the window. The trunk can be seen on top of the cooker in the second photograph.
The photo also shows the mess created inside, so it was probably too early to say what might have been stolen, but project leader Sarah Cotton says that this will not daunt the volunteers and that they will be up and running at the weekend as usual.
Damage to the Conservatory was less, but a broken window and its frame will now need to be replaced.
Neither of these groups keep money in their buildings overnight.
Needless to say, should anyone know anything about these incidents, the police will want to know. Otherwise the best thing that anyone can do is to support these two voluntary groups which can be contacted via www.friendsofbroomfieldpark.org.
