These children are devastated after their favourite play equipment was stolen during an overnight raid on their Bradford nursery.

Heartless thieves made off with goods valued at about £8,000 after breaking into a locked metal container outside Buttershaw Christian Family Centre, in the Crescent, off Reevy Road West, Buttershaw.

Among the stolen items were two bouncy castles that were due to be used by the children during a sponsored bounce. The thieves also took bicycles and gardening equipment.

Children at the centre yesterday told of their disappointment. Scarlett Mason, four, said: “What they did was not very kind.”

Six-year-old Ismay Callaghan-Tonge added: “It’s sad that we are not able to play with all the things we enjoyed playing with.” And Lynn Mthombeni, seven, said: “It’s stealing – that’s not a good thing to do.”

Buttershaw Christian Family Centre hosts three children’s groups – the Footprints nursery, Willow Tops and Buttershaw Play Group.

Mandy Hirst, early years co-ordinator at the centre, said it would no longer be able to hold the activities it had planned during the Easter and summer holidays.

She said: “We had organised a fundraiser over the summer to do a sponsored bounce on the bouncy castles.

“We had an open day the day after we discovered the equipment had been stolen, so the timing couldn’t have been worse. This is equipment bought through fundraising.

“They attempted to break in the week before last. We replaced the locks and reinforced them, but they came back.

“We are insured but it prevents us from running the activities that we planned to run.”

West Yorkshire Police said they received reports of a theft at 3.55pm on Friday. Anyone with information should call Bradford South Police on 0845 6060606.