THE committee behind a community village hall have been left “devastated” by a burglary, just days after launching a massive fundraising appeal to completely renovate the building.

Volunteers of the Rhydypennau Hall Committee in Bow Street will now be forced to spend cash to replace most of the locks in the building after thieves made off with some bunches of keys for the hall after breaking in sometime overnight on Saturday, 7 April.

After breaking in through a side door to the community hall - which will celebrate its centenary in 2020 - thieves also stole the contents of a petty cash tin belonging to one of the dozens of groups who use the hall on a regular basis. Security will be strengthened at the hall in the wake of the incident, the committee said.

Committee members are at the start of a fundraising drive to completely transform the building to provide a “completely modern facility” for the village, including the complete replacement of the roof.

The committee said the theft, which has left the external door needing to be replaced along with the lock, was a “real setback” for the campaign.

Vice-chair of the committee Gordon Jones told the Cambrian News that the break-in was “devastating”.

“It is not the first time it has happened - we had a break in a year ago - but it will cost money to put right at a time when we have just begun this fundraising effort,” he said.

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now