Cricket club to rebuild pavilion after arson attack

A cricket club whose 180-year-old sports pavilion was destroyed in an arson attack said it was aiming to rebuild a new one.

Police and fire crews were called to Bures and District Cricket Club in Bures St Mary, Suffolk, on 9 September when the thatched pavilion was reported on fire.

Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the fire was deliberate and Suffolk Police added that no arrests had been made.

Luke Terry, 35, the club's vice-captain and committee member, said matches would still be played on the green this summer while the club aimed to open a new pavilion for next year's season.

"The season will be beginning in the next couple of months," Terry explained.

"We're not going to have a pavilion this year. The rubble is still very much there, but we are looking into obviously working with architects and working with the council to understand what we can rebuild, what that might look like.

"Obviously these kind of things take time as approvals and regulations have got to be met and then we can understand ultimately what the cost of it is," he added.

More than £7,000 has been raised to help the club fund the cost of the new pavilion.

The club said it was not planning to build another pavilion with a thatched roof, but Terry said the building would include nods to the pavilion's past and history.

"It's got to be in keeping with what it is and where it is, and we're hoping that when we do rebuild it can also become a place where people could book it out and allow the community to use it as well," he added.

"That's one of the plans that's on table, which I think is well-received by the local community," he said.

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