Burst pipe leaves club with big wage bill

The cold weather snap has hit members of Hoyland Common WMC hard after a burst water pipe ruined musicians' equipment and two rooms.

Club president Mick Whittaker, said the water came through the loft into the committee room on Saturday afternoon soaking instruments amps, speakers and a mixing desk belonging to local rockers Vanquish.

It then caused the ceiling of the snooker room to give way with tiles falling from the ceiling.

Four hours of chaos ensued he said, as club regulars tried to stop the water ruining the club.

Mick has been in contact with insurers and says it will cost about £35-40,000 to rectify the damage.

He said: "It was seriously coming down, it took us about an hour to get the water turned off at the mains and the water which was still upstairs had to come down."

Members managed to cover up the snooker tables to protect them but they had to pull up the carpet as it has been badly damaged.

Luckily there was a plumber next door in the concert room at a children's party who managed to step in and help out.

He had his tools with him and turned off the water supply.

"That must have been divine intervention," Mick said.

"I have done a bit of building work myself but I don't go round with tools in my pocket when I go to a children's party on a Saturday afternoon."

"You can see with the state of the ceiling and the carpet in the games room, it is a bit of disaster," he added.

"It's just cold out this time of year, it's one of those things."

Vanquish drummer Chad Hancock, said the damage was 'horrific'.

"We turned one speaker up and a gallon of water came out of it. We have lost work work through it as we were supposed to be gigging on that Saturday night. It's devastating."