The stained glass represents three local poets

Fire extinguishers and solid oak floors were damaged in the raid at Ceiriog Memorial Institute in Glyn Ceiriog near Chirk.

Trustees are trying to raise �300,000 to renovate the museum which was built in 1911.

The majority of artefacts are in safekeeping at Wrexham library.

Treasurer Frank Jones said the money that would now have to be spent on repairs was earmarked for use elsewhere.

"We haven't got the money to spend on this sort of thing because we need every penny we've got to refurbish the Institute," he said.

Frank Jones: The museum needs redeveloping

"They broke in and they let off all the fire extinguishers - you can still see the white on the back of the stage.

"The oak floor, which is a lovely floor, was virtually stripped and we're going to have to re-do it and polish it.

"They've left fingerprints behind so the police are quite confident that they will get them."

Mr Jones said the museum is well known throughout Wales.

Great poets

"The Institute's been a very important part of Welsh history over the years but now the National Museum has superseded it," he added.

"We've got a bust here of one of the founders of orthopaedic surgery who lived in the Valley.

"The College of Surgeons in London has offered us no end of money for that, but we won't part with it.

"We do have things that are worth an awful lot of money.

Repair work

"We have got artefacts belonging to Ceiriog Hughes the poet here and many, many other things.

"The stained glass windows here commemorate the three great poets of the Ceiriog Valley and some of the books here are priceless," he said.

The 90-year-old building is built from Glyn Ceiriog slate and Mr Jones said it is in desperate need of repair.

"The guttering needs doing, the walls are bowing out and need straightening and strengthening, the roof needs looking at too."

The local community hope the new museum will open in 2005.