MUSICIANS from Burnham and Highbridge Band who have recently refurbished their band room said they plan to stay put despite falling victim to vandalism last year.

The popular band, which is based in playing fields off Worston Lane in Highbridge, considered moving to a new home last year after a spate of vandalism attacks on their hut.

But after lengthy discussions the group is now planning to stay put and has renovated their building thanks to a £5,000 grant from Burnham and Highbridge Town Council.

Caroline Tapfield from Burnham and Highbridge Town Band said the group is ‘extremely grateful’ to have received the grant funding.

“After long discussions the band has decided to keep their band room despite it being vandalised a number of times last year,” Caroline said.

“We thought about moving to a new home and even looked at other locations but there was just nowhere we could store all of our equipment so we decided to stay put.

“The vandalism made band practise difficult last year.

“People were throwing eggs through the door and banging on the walls and the building had graffiti on it but the community response was fantastic.

“We were lucky enough to get a £5,000 grant from Burnham and Highbridge Town Council and used the money to put new cladding up around the building.

“The band hut looks so much brighter and is fit for purpose as the cladding is graffiti proof so we are very grateful to the council for giving us this money.

“Some of our club members also gave up their time one weekend to repaint, deep clean and tidy the inside of the building which has made a real difference.

“It is a really nice space for us to practise in now.”

Caroline said the revamp has ‘kickstarted’ plans for the band to make improvements inside the building including installing a new toilet and kitchen facilities with running water.

She said the works could cost between £12,000 and £20,000 to complete and they plan to raise funds for the project by applying for grants and holding concerts.

“We really want to make some improvements to the hut to make it a more comfortable space for our members,” Caroline said.

“We want to install a kitchen area with running water and a proper loo but we need to get funding to make it happen.

“We are planning to do more busking on Burnham Esplanade in the summer to raise funds and we are hosting four concerts this year.

“We are now also charging our members a yearly subscription fee which gives us some income but this is not something we had ever done before.

“We are planning to have talks with Sedgemoor District Council and utility companies to see what we can do with the hut. We hope that the community will continue to support us and help us to fund these much needed works.”