LEAD thieves have targeted Whitminster Village Hall two times in three days, costing the community hall thousands of pounds.

Lead sheeting was stripped from the roof of the village hall in School Lane in the early hours of Wednesday morning - and then again on Friday morning.

John Jones, chairman of the management committee, said the thefts will cost thousands of pounds.

“We’re currently getting estimates on how much it is going to cost to get it replaced,” he told the SNJ.

“It was a lot of lead, let’s put it that way.

“They came back the second time and took what they couldn’t take the first time.

“It was a professional job, they knew what they were doing.

“The roof has been badly damaged and water was seeping into the building.

“It is going to cost several thousand pounds.”

Mr Jones fears the thefts will mean the parish will have to pay out a much higher insurance.

He is warning others in the area to be aware of the incident.

The lead was stolen from under the tiles on the roof of the village hall extension, which was refurbished in 2007 with a flat lead roof.

“We’ve not had a problem in the nine years since we have had the roof, perhaps we have been lucky,” said Mr Jones.

“It could have something to do with the price of lead going up though, so we want to warn others to be aware of it.”

A white van was seen outside the village hall in the early hours of Wednesday morning, at around 12.45am.

On the Friday morning, at around 1.40am, a red van was seen outside the hall.

The village hall remains open, and the management committee is organising for the roof of the extension to be replaced.

Anyone who has information on either theft is urged to contact police on 101, quoting incident 113 of August 18.