A NEWPORT bowls club was forced to disband in its 50th year after repeated thefts, vandal attacks and fly tipping on the green.

Llanwern Bowls Club took the difficult decision not to compete this season, which starts in April, as the owner of the green, St Modwen, said it could no longer continue to replace damaged locks and gates.

Club secretary Robert Davis, 56, said in the past 12 months, there have been around 30 incidents of theft, vandalism at the clubhouse and flytipping on the green, which included around 1,000 car tyres being dumped and copper wiring stolen from the clubhouse.

Mr Davis said in light of this, St Modwen sent the club a letter saying if there was a further breach of security, they would be forced to close off access to the site completely as they could not continue to fund to repair the damage.

At present, there is an access road with a gate and padlock, but this has been cut off with bolt cutters by the criminals and has to be replaced each time.Abarrier across the access road was also sawn off.

The club had the option to either disband now or carry on and face becoming homeless midway through the season if they were victims of crime again.

Mr Davis said members have been visiting the site twice a day to try and keep it safe, but they cannot be there all the time to stand guard.

At a club meeting last week, the decision was taken to disband and several members resigned from the club.

Mr Davis sadi: “Some of the chaps are very upset about it – some of them have only every played for Llanwern Bowls Club. The members have worked hard to keep the bowling green going.

“We were looking forward to this season, our 50th anniversary, now it’s going to waste through the actions of idiots.”