Women in a Bradford community realised the fruition of a four-year dream when they opened the doors to a new centre - despite suffering setbacks at the hands of burglars.

The new WomenZone Commun-ity Centre, in Hubert Street, off Leeds Road, Bradford, was broken into three times in three weeks last month. On the final occasion, burglars caused considerable damage by smashing down doors and stealing computers, microwaves and fax machines.

But yesterday, the centre opened its doors to the public to give people a chance to see the work it will do when it is fully up and running in the next few weeks.

Security at the building, which underwent a £500,000 transformation thanks to funding from Sure Start Barkerend and Regen 2000, is now being tightened up.

And workers hope their official opening - originally planned for June 16 - will not be delayed for too long by the break-ins.

Fawzia Mir, chairman of the centre, said workers were disappointed that burglars had chosen to target the project before it was even up and running properly.

"This has taken four years of hard work to get up and running, of real teamwork from the women involved. People in the community know what has been going on and we're really disappointed that we've been targeted like this," said Mrs Mir. "When I moved to this area four years ago, I was shocked at how little there was for women and young children. That motivated me to get things started."

Anxious to meet people following her move, Mrs Mir attempted to get involved with training courses at another centre but struggled because of a lack of childcare facilities.

"I'm quite resourceful and assertive and I'd been involved in community work before but I wondered how women coped when they had young children and didn't have those skills," she said.

She was able to get the project moving when she joined the Sure Start regeneration scheme and asked them to look at providing a women's centre.

WomenZone has its own gym, steam room, creche and training facilities. It will provide a community meeting place as well as education classes, health and other advice sessions.

"We included the gym in the centre because when we consulted women, their health was something they were concerned about," she said. "It's about giving women in the community something to feel proud of, to take ownership of and to make it succeed."

Regen 2000 chief executive Nadim Qureshi said he was disappointed about the break-ins. "It's indicative of the problems we have in the area in terms of regeneration," he said. "I'm optimistic once the centre is fully operating we will get over these problems."