The future of a vandal-hit village cricket club has been secured with a grant from an anti-crime group.

Bolton Villas Cricket Club, in Idle, Bradford, was awarded £2,000 by the Bradford North Anti-Crime Partnership after a spate of attacks on its changing room block.

Committee member Steve Wilson today said the money - which was used to pay for new window shutters - had provided "peace of mind" for the 200 players who use the club.

Vandals had repeatedly smashed windows to break in and had tried to flood the building, which is also used by Blakehill Primary School and junior football teams.

"It is quite heartbreaking," said Mr Wilson. "It is hard enough to run the club when it relies totally on volunteers without having to divert funds to things like this.

"Just to replace the windows would have cost us £1,000. The running costs go into five figures."

He said the club, which has won a national award for its work with local youngsters, was delighted the Anti-Crime Partnership had agreed to help out. "We've gone from distraught to delighted," he said. "You shouldn't have to worry about stuff like this but it is a fact of life. People just smash the windows for the sake of it. It's madness."

Councillor Howard Middleton (Lib Dem, Bolton), chairman of the Bradford North Anti-Crime Partnership, said the grant came from an annual fund of £15,000.

"We don't have huge amounts of money but they sometimes make a big difference," he said. "When you are relying on volunteers to run so much sport in the city, you cannot expect them to spend half their time clearing up after vandals."

Linda Cleveland, another partnership member, said: "We know that this club has been in existence for a long time and works well with young people. It was being persistently broken into and that really decreases the morale of the volunteers."

The club, which celebrates its centenary in 2005, is applying for a Lottery grant for a new clubhouse to replace the existing building which has also been targeted by vandals. The development is expected to cost about £70,000.