CALLOUS thieves all but ruined a centre dedicated to helping disabled people enjoy horse riding before a flurry of generous tradesmen came forward to piece it back together free of charge.
Catherine Mitchell, manager of Barnsley Riding for the Disabled on Pontefract Road at Oakwell, said she could not believe the offers of help, support and cash which began flooding in when she posted on Facebook about a break in on Saturday morning.
“I am absolutely overwhelmed,” said Catherine, who has run the centre for 18 years.
“I’ve got the alarm synced to my phone, so I knew it was going off from 6.45am on Saturday,” Catherine told the Chronicle.
“I got there at 7.15am, and I didn’t see them but I think I must have disturbed them.”
All that was stolen was £3 in old £1 coins which can no longer be spent, which Catherine had taken out of a collecting tin and left in a drawer to try and cash in at the bank.
“They must have been looking for horse equipment (tack), but it was secure and we don’t keep the valuable stuff on site anyway.
“I must have disturbed them and they’ve got away around the back.”
When Catherine arrived she found a scene of devastation. The alarm had been smashed from the wall, and the phone line had been cut - she assumed this was an attempt to stop the alarm from sending a signal to the police or a key holder.
“I was horrified when I got there. I could see someone had tried to get in. There’s a padlock on the gate, they’d tried to cut through that. There were bricks stacked up at the side of the office. They’d actually taken bricks out to try and get through the shutters on the windows.
“When I got inside to the office I found they’d basically dug a huge hole through the roof. Drawers and everything were tipped out, it was a total mess. I was quite shaken up to be honest.
“They must have been there some time trying to get in, and then taking the roof to bits.
“Then they’ve had a really good search, trying to get though to a storage room, but they didn’t.
“I think I must have disturbed them.”
After calling the police, Catherine’s next move was to go on Facebook announcing to the world that the centre had been trashed and there was a large hole in the roof.
Within minutes, she’d had numerous offers of help. One team carried out a temporary repair to keep the rain out, before a second team arrived armed with tiles to do a proper roof repair. An alarm expert came to repair the burglar alarm and finally a plasterer came to repair the ceiling - all free of charge.
In total seven different tradespeople came along to carry out repairs with none asking for anything in return - they even said they didn’t want to be named.
“They said they just wanted to help as it was for charity.
“Sometimes when things seem so bad there is some good comes out of it. There are a lot of good people out there.”
A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said: “Sometime between 10pm on Friday and 7.30am on Saturday, it was reported Barnsley Riding for the Disabled Association, Pontefract Road, Barnsley, had been broken into.
“Damage was caused to the building during the burglary.
“Anyone with information is asked to report it via 101 quoting incident number 242 of April 7.”
