BOSSES at Darwen Cricket Club will be investing in new security systems after the pavilion was broken into twice in a week.

Burglars struck at the club’s Birch Hall ground sometime between Sunday night and Tuesday afternoon, police said, stealing bottles of alcohol and causing damage.

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Officers said they broke in through a fence and then smashed their way into the pavilion.

And the club in Leven Grove was hit again on Saturday night when burglars forced their way into the building but left empty-handed.

Club chairman Graham Ainslie said: “There wasn’t much damage done but it is more about the annoyance and inconvenience than anything else.

“We are looking to strengthen our security and we will make the necessary adjustments as soon as possible.

“But this is money that could be spent elsewhere within the club.

“We are still assessing the damage and stock loss so we haven’t submitted an insurance claim yet, but they are aware of the incident.”

Mr Ainslie said the incidents did not interfere with the club from hosting two functions at the weekend.

He said: “This did not stop us and we had two functions over the weekend and there was no impact on them at all.

“Over the past few years we are aware that other sports clubs have been targeted so it is clear we need to have our security levels looked at an we will make changes.

“I suppose over the past five years we have been quite fortunate that these types of incidents have been infrequent.” A police spokeswoman said: “We were called on Thursday, February 11, after a break-in at Darwen Cricket Club that could have happened at any time between 11pm on Sunday and 1pm on Tuesday.

“The burglar had forced their way into the club and removed bottles of alcohol and two crates of beer.

“Then between 4am and 11.58am on Saturday an offender got into the building and attempted to open the till, but left without stealing anything.”

Anyone with information about the break-ins is urged to call police on 101.