Arson at Mission

Vandals have struck at Conisbrough’s St. Andrews Mission Church only days after the completion of £300 decorations and renovations. The Mission has been completely repainted inside, new heaters installed and generally cleaned up by church members, who did much of the work themselves and also employed a decorator with money from church fund-raising efforts.

Last Thursday the Vicar, the Rev ff. F. Braithwaite, was call edto the Mission and found that a wooden door at the rear of the building had been half-burned away.

“New paintwork Inside has been stalled by smoke and badly damaged In parts, and of course, the door is ruined,” said Mr. Braithwaite. “If a nearby resident had not spotted the fire and thrown a bucket of water on ft. It could have been much worse.

“It had quite obviously been started deliberately: we found scraps of charred newspaper under the door.

“The matter he been reported to the police, and they are making enquiries.”

The Mission has long been a target for vandals and some time ago the Vicar appealed in the Parish Magazine for people living in the area to “keep an eye on it.”