Crooks who broke into a cricket clubhouse in Odiham have been blamed for sparking a fire that gutted the inside.
Members of the 250-year-old Odiham and Greywell Cricket Club said they were distraught as they tried to salvage priceless memorabilia destroyed in the blaze.
The future of the wooden building remains uncertain as assessors consider this week whether to tear down the badly damaged building.
Bill Edmunds, captain of the club's Sunday seconds team and a member for 27 years, said he believed the building would have to come down.
“Looking at it there are holes in the wall, and holes in the roof,” he said. “The first feeling when we went up there on Saturday morning was it was damaged beyond repair."
Up to 30 firefighters were called to the King Street pavilion at 7.46 on January 21 following reports of smoke billowing from the building.
Crews spent three hours battling the flames with trucks being dispatched from Odiham, Hartley Wintney, Bordon and Basingstoke.
After spending two hours dampening down the building club members were able to see the devastation.
It is thought that thieves broke into the building in the early hours, where they used a high-powered angle grinder to break open the safe behind the bar before fleeing with cash and flat screen television.
Though unconfirmed by both the police and fire service, club members believe that sparks from the angle grinder started the blaze.
First team captain Phil Thomas, 25, said the pictures and photos that adorned the walls were the biggest loss.
“I came down in the morning to see fire engines and to see the cricket club smouldering,” he said. “I’ve been with club ever since I was born, so I was pretty upset. There was a lot of memories and memorabilia in there."
He said that a number of photos were salvaged, but mourned the loss of a unique painting commissioned to mark the club’s game against Sir Tim Rice’s charity squad The Heartaches.
But speaking to the Observer, bar manager Sarah Schofield said the tragedy would not dampen the spirits of the 450 club members.
She said: “Everybody has been massively supportive, we are a strong team. We will come back bigger and stronger.”
