Vandals wreck cabin on boot

Saturday 20th June 2009, 2:56PM BST.

Hugh Jones inspects the damage to his cabin at Milbrook. Picture by Jon Guegan (00721043)

VANDALS – believed to be students celebrating the end of their exams – have wrecked the property of Boot Camp Jersey on Millbrook playing field.

Hugh Jones, who has leased the field for the past three years, for army-style fitness courses and football, arrived at the fields yesterday morning to find that every window of the 30-ft portable cabin had been smashed, showering football boots and bibs with glass.

The £2,000 worth of damage means that all the equipment inside the cabin had to be thrown away as it had splinters of glass in. But Mr Jones, said that a small minority of ‘mindless vandals’ were not going to ruin it for everybody else.

‘This is disheartening but I do not give up that easily and there are thousands of good children in this Island and just a small minority who cause trouble,’ said Mr Jones, who is offering a reward for information that leads to a conviction.

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1
Mogit

June 20, 2009 at 4:55 pm

Don’t worry Hugh when we find them they will be told off in the sternest way, so they won’t do it again !!!!!

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2
Nick

June 20, 2009 at 9:51 pm

I suppose it is too much to ask where the States Police were whilst this was going on? These facilities are very visible from Victoria Avenue, a road I happen to overlook, and I see some very flash looking squad cars dashing backwards and forwards on it on a regular basis between the hours of 9am to 4.30pm.
I am a great supporter of Hugh Jones efforts to retain this field for sporting activity and am shocked at how little official support he appears to get. This is the last useable open space between St Helier and St Aubin suitable (Availble)for such activity in what has become an area of intense development and increasing population density.It is used every year as secure overnight parking for the Battle of Flowers Floats,and It also during the winter months acts as a refuge for a wide variety of seabirds when a storm is brewing. The only reason this field is available is because its private owners whom I believe are family beneficiaries of a Trust set up by the Boot family have exercised considerable public spiritedness in making it available despite increasing financial pressure to have the site rezoned for development.The States have sat back and watched this situation develop and so far have been tardy over the years in resolving this issue (with the accent on using whatever means there is for not spending any public money) in securing what should be an essential publicly owned and managed sporting facility and secure open space in perpetuity. I would suggest that this site, and the small site in the SW corner of this field (Which I believe is under separate private ownership) and which for many years had two very useable (And I believe publically available)tennis courts in situ, be acquired by the States for a realistic market price, protected from development in perpetuity and made available for precisely the activity it is now used for. A fulltime cartaker’s job should be created with accomodation on site (There used to be a cottage behind the Glass Church at one time)and public funds should be put in Trust to ensure ongoing upkeep and maintenance.This would cost far less than say the £12mn recently spent on another issue amd would provide an ongoing,permanent,secure and much needed public facility.Oh yes and refurbish the site fences, and the tennis courts and make them useable for basketball and netball as well.Maybe some of the much vaunted £44mn, as at least one ongoing local job is being created?

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