Who moved the goalposts?

Written by MK News on Wed 25th Jul 2007

Thieves have stolen a set of goalposts bought by an elderly villager as a legacy before she died.

The full size posts were stolen from the North Crawley playing fields on June 30.

The Ramada Encore hotel in Milton Keynes celebrated its first anniversary in styleDue to their size, it is believed the thieves pre-planned the snatch and used a van to take the posts away.

The posts were bought about a year ago and cost £1,500 with money donated by elderly resident Rhonda Pagitt just before she died, together with funds from a committee set up in the 1970s.

Cllr Sam Potts' parents were on the committee, which originally planned to build a play area. They could not raise enough funds and so kept what they had collected in a trust fund.

Cllr Sam Potts said: "The posts were Rhonda Pagitt's gift to the village.It really infuriates me that people are trying to do community stuff and then it is undone by others. Loads and loads of kids used those goalposts, and not just children but people like my brother too and he's 19.

"The goalposts worked so well with the Healthy Schools initiative and all the efforts around keeping children fit.

"These people just have no care for the community. They don't have a thought."

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: "There was a theft of goalposts worth £1,500 from the recreation ground on Cranfield Road, North Crawley, sometime between 28 June and 2 July.

"It is thought that at least two people with a vehicle would have been needed to take the posts."