A VILLAGE hall has been covered with anti-climb paint after youths climbed on its roof to smash tiles.

Latchingdon Village Hall on Burnham Road fell victim to three youths who used a container to climb onto the roof in July, causing damage to the tiles.

They were captured on CCTV and the emergency services were called to help them down.

Following the incident, and a similar one where the gates to the park next door were wrecked, the parish council decided to apply anti-climb paint onto all container surfaces around the hall to discourage people from climbing up them.

The paint remains sticky and will stay on those who put their hands on the surfaces.

Parish councillor Lynn Robinson said the acts of vandalism happen periodically in the village.

She said: “It’s certainly not the only bit of vandalism villages like us have, they happen periodically over time.

“Children reach a certain age where they get bored and want to do something different, so they target places like this and attempt to cause a bit of damage and generally be disruptive.

“The three people in question were caught when the emergency services turned up and were given a stern telling off, and thankfully it hasn’t happened again.

“The paint job has been something we needed doing for a while, and thankfully we had some volunteers from the Latchingdon Football Club come and apply it for us.

“It was nice that some community spirit came out of an act of vandalism.”

Mrs Robinson has advised parents of looking out for their children, and that applying this paint will help identify perpetrators more easily.

She added: “I’ve put messages out on social media to parents saying that if their children come home with paint all over them, chances are you’ll know where they’ve been.

“All the containers have been coated, we’ll know if anyone else tries anything.”