Vandalism sparks call for action to help young people in Storrington

Storrington FC chairman Nigel Dyer says youngsters ‘need somewhere to just hang out and chat.’

He spoke out after vandals left the club’s senior football pitch strewn with broken glass at the weekend.

Nigel painstakingly cleared all the shards off the pitch on Saturday morning. He said: “There have been some issues in the village which I think have got worse during lockdown.”

And, although difficult at the moment because of Government restrictions, he called for some sort of meeting place to be provided for youngsters.

“There are no youth clubs or anywhere for them to go so maybe we should cut them a bit of slack - but smashing glass on a recreational area is going a bit too far.”

He said he recognised there was a limit of what could be done. “The leisure centre is shut, everywhere is shut. it is just boredom I think.”

He said Storrington was not alone in facing such problems but “Storrington needs to do more.”