CRUEL yobs have left a charity counting the cost to the tune of £50,000 after torching an outdoor play area in a suspected arson attack.

Firefighters were called to the Eccleshill Adventure Playground, or the Big Swing Adventure Playground, at around 7pm on Monday where an indoor play space dubbed the ‘hobbit house’ was alight.

The charity, which delivers free adventure play sessions across the Bradford district, often in under-privileged areas of the city, has been left devastated by the blaze.

Manager Janet Jewitt said: “I was given a call from one of my staff members to say that the alarm had gone off and that the hobbit house was on fire.

“That raised concern, I got here as soon as I could”

She described the building as being “completely beyond repair” and said the fire brigade were of the opinion that it was an arson attack.

Janet said that around £50,000 worth of damage has been caused, destroying the interior of the building, which included a kitchen and a pool table.

“We won’t be able to open to the public until the building has been demolished,” she said.

“We’ve had the most fantastic summer, engaged with an enormous amount of children, it has been a great summer.

“So we all ended on a high on Friday, it’s just tainted the whole summer delivery.”

She added: “All in all it’s going to set us back, I hope not for too long.”

And she said while the team had been left “angry and cross” by what had happened, they have to remain upbeat.

“The easy thing is to close the doors and give up,” she said.

“It’s like the phoenix out of the ashes.”

The team were dealing with the aftermath of the fire throughout yesterday, a task made all the more difficult as the fire had also left the charity without phone or internet access.

Speaking about the culprits, Janet said: “They need to think about the consequences of their actions.

“It’s criminal damage. This is a police case.”

She also praised the outpouring of community support and offers of help, adding: “This is not going to prevent us from delivering the services we do.

“It will take us a bit of time to come together and get things up and running, but we’ll do our best to be ship shape as soon as we can.”

In a message of support, the Scholemoor Beacon charity wrote: “This is very sad news for everyone involved in play activity around Bradford.

“The Big Swing is one of our partner organisations and we are one of their adventure play hubs in South Bradford.

“They deliver much needed play, fun and educational activities to children from some of the most under-privileged areas in the district and to think that this fire would be started deliberately when the playground is a brilliant place for children and young people to visit is just wrong on all levels.

“We offer whatever support we can to our colleagues at the Big Swing and are wishing the organisation a quick recovery so that this wonderful place can be once again enjoyed by so many children, young people and families from across Bradford.”

Councillor Geoff Reid (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said: “Clearly we have no idea who has done this.

“It’s a sort of community self harm really. It’s not the first time they [the organisation] have been affected by fire.

“They have been very vulnerable in that location.

“This is very sad that we’ve got to this point.”

Cllr Reid added: “We assume they are a certain age group and it’s the age group which is being supported by this organisation.

“They are harming themselves really.”

Countless messages have been left in support of the charity.

One person wrote: “Awful such a great place for kids, the people who did this should be ashamed of themselves.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said “Police have received a report of criminal damage at this location and enquiries are continuing into the circumstances.”

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