Furious Broughty Ferry volunteers have hit out after heartless raiders left a trail of destruction at their church halls.
The thieves kicked in an office door and ransacked and destroyed cupboards before stealing cash, jewellery and a CD player belonging to youngsters at New Kirk in Queen Street.
Shocked volunteers discovered the contents of the cupboards strewn across the floor when they came in on Monday for their weekly cleaning.
The Rev Catherine Collins said the volunteers had been left “very upset” at the discovery.
She said: “These are people who give up their time to do this very faithfully and they have arrived to find this mess.
“We have an office and the door has pretty much been destroyed, it’s been kicked in.
“They have taken a small amount of petty cash and have gone round cupboards and the ones that were locked have had the doors ripped off. They have ransacked the place.
“The contents of the cupboards were left strewn around.
“One of the cupboards broken into belonged to the Brownies and they had just pulled the contents out to see if there was any money.
“Their new CD player was stolen and they are very upset.”
The raiders struck between the Sunday morning service and the volunteers arriving the following morning.
The church provides space for groups including Guides, Boys’ Brigade and toddler groups, as well as organisations for older members of the community.
Ms Collins said: “There will be financial implications. We will have to make the repairs and we have insurance like any building, but that carries a large excess.
“That means that the money to do any upgrade will have to come out of the members’ pockets.
“The halls were locked up on Sunday after the service. Whether the catches have come loose or something like that, we are not sure.
“It wasn’t very obvious how they got in, but it looked as if they managed to pull something until it gave. They didn’t vandalise anything within the church itself, which is fortunate.
“I arrived back from holiday on Monday to find out it had happened.”
Ms Collins was left angry at the destruction.
She said: “We are a charity and our members give a lot of time and money to ensure that all sorts of voluntary work happens in the Ferry.
We are giving up our time for these groups and somebody just comes in and destroys part of our halls, which are here for the community.
“The various people affected are just going through their stuff now to see what has been damaged and what, if anything, has been taken.
She wanted the thieves to realise the consequences of their actions.
She said: “I would like them to be aware that they have damaged the resources that we make available to the community, possibly including people they know.
“I want them to be aware of the effect it has had on people, who will possibly feel anxious.
“What we do is based on trust and abuse of that trust undermines people’s sense of well-being.”
A police spokesman said: “Tayside Division officers are carrying out inquiries after the Broughty Ferry New Kirk in Queen Street was broken into some time between 1pm on Sunday and just after 8am on Monday.
“Stolen from the church was a tin containing a small amount of petty cash, a CD player and a ladies engraved 9 carat gold ring.
“Officers would appeal for anyone who was in the area and who saw or heard anything suspicious to contact them on 101.”