MONK BRETTON youth club reaches its first birthday next week but members won’t be celebrating.

Instead the group is fighting to stay open after £500 worth of equipment - including a pool table, table tennis equipment and an air hockey table - was destroyed in a suspected arson attack.

The blaze is thought to have broken out on Good Friday. The equipment had only been bought in August with a grant from South Yorkshire Police as part of a drive to combat anti-social behaviour.

Kids attending the youth club on Wednesday, the first since the fire, had to play games but youth worker Helen Walker says the threat of closure is a “very real possibility” because there is nothing for kids to do.

She said they need donations of money or equipment if they are to keep open the club which attracts 30 kids a week, aged beteen nine and 15.

Helen said: “It had just got running sufficiently because we had been struggling for volunteers. “We had got a full complement of volunteers and then this happens.

“Youth nuisance has dropped quite dramatically since the youth club has been running. We have a good relationship with the police through the youth club and officers have been building relationships with youngsters.