CHURCH bosses have today been left devastated after hundreds of New Year’s ravers trashed a 500-year-old building – causing £1,000 in damage.
Essex Police closed down the Covid-flouting party but were pelted with missiles by revellers at the Grade II* listed building.
The revellers were finally moved on but left a scene of destruction at the All Saints Church in East Horndon.
Photographs show bottles and glass strewn across the church’s floor while the remnants of a bar and light show can be seen.
And members of the conservation group for the church said they were “devastated” by the damage that could cost more than £1,000.
Astrid Gillespie, a volunteer for the Friends of All Saints, said she was “just trying to get her head round the news”, having found out via a Facebook post on New Year’s Day.
She said: “I went up there and the police were still there packing up the equipment that they seized.
“There were hundreds of people there, it sounded like it was a ticketed event. It was a professional set-up, they’d hired Portaloos – they’re still there.”
The party was just one of dozens broken up by cops up and down the country as they enforced Covid restrictions as the deadly bug continues to rip across the country.
While millions stayed home to stop the spread, hundreds of Brits ignored the rules and joined illegal parties in Birmingham, Essex, Manchester and London.
In Essex alone, more than £18,000 in organiser fines and fixed penalty notices were handed out overnight.
Just two weeks ago, Essex was named as a Covid hotspot with cases in Thurrock nearly trebling in seven days.
And Ms Gillespie said she had been horrified to see the church damaged, with the remnants of a bar and drugs left in the building.
She said: “They’ve done damage to the church, obviously it’s a mess and needs to be completely cleaned out. The ground has been all churned up because they must have had vans dropping off all the equipment.”
Ms Gillespie, 48, said a small window had been smashed to put in an extractor fan unit and the sound equipment had been wired into the church’s fuse box.
She added that because of the building’s age and heritage status, the damage was “not going to be cheap” to fix, and that the locks would have to be replaced.
“The vicar is going to organise a preliminary clean-up but it’s a huge task and we’re estimating £1,000 but it could well be more,” she said.
“I love the place, it’s such a beautiful church, and to find out it’s been damaged is devastating, I’m just trying to get my head around it.
“You wake up in the new year and think ‘new year, new me” and then you’ve got to deal with all this.”
