Last night, at about 10pm, J and I popped into the community centre as we were passing, just to check that everything was OK. We found a few doors open that should have been locked but otherwise all seemed fine. There was an internal window open between the main hall’s kitchen and the hallway, which I closed, and at the time we wondered why anyone would have opened it. We didn’t check the main hall itself as it was all locked up properly, even the entrance through the kitchen.

Today we found that someone had broken in and thrown a load of furniture around in the main hall. We were kicking ourselves because we didn’t go in there at all last night. As there were no broken doors we wondered if someone with a key had done it – a set did go missing last year. The police reckoned that someone could have got in through a window which is easily accessible from outside but couldn’t see how anyone could have got back out that way.

Thats when I realised that whoever broke in must have come through the window, and got out through the kitchen window, then out by the main front door – using the push bar. I remembered how I felt a draught when I shut that kitchen window.

So now we not only have to look for thicker iron bars but need to secure a window. There is some speculation that this was the same person, or persons, who maybe have a bit of a vendetta against the pre-school group who use the main hall. We will find out if the police talk to them and take their fingerprints and they match all the ones lifted on Saturday night.