A GROUP of charitable college students have stepped in to help a landlady replace her broken furniture after it was trashed by football fans.
Kate Umpleby was left devastated after a group of Cardiff City fans trashed her pub - The Foresters Arms, in Coatham Mundeville, on the outskirts of Darlington.
The 43-year-old said while the majority of the 22 fans were well behaved, a group of about five or six caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage when they stopped off at the pub on their way to Newcastle for a Premier League game.
As well as trashing the men’s toilets and a number of ornaments, the group also smashed one of the pub’s outdoor picnic benches.
Ms Umpleby said: “I was absolutely heartbroken, it was horrible. I only found the damage after they had gone.
“It might only seem like a small amount of money, but I have worked hard for that. If something gets broken the money comes directly from me.”
After hearing about her experience, a group of teenage students on the Next Steps programme at Darlington College offered to repair the pub’s broken bench as part of a college project.
Their tutor Lee Coutts said: “We are all pulling together for her. It was just so needless. Nobody has the right to do that anywhere.”
They will present the bench to Ms Umpleby in a few weeks, and are planning to help prepare the pub for the summer months.
Ms Umpleby said: “I am overwhelmed, I think it is absolutely lovely what they are doing.”
She also said the organiser of the group of fans has apologised and offered to pay to repair the damage.
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