Historic Dunbar Lawn Bowling Club on Vancouver’s west side vandalized

Police are investigating after a facility on Vancouver’s west side was damaged this past weekend.

Several windows of the Dunbar Lawn Bowling Club were smashed and the outside of the building was covered in graffiti.

The club, which largely caters to seniors, is not maintained by the city, meaning members have to clean up the damage themselves.

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“This is just disappointing,” Alan Wass of the Dunbar Lawn Bowling Club said. “We try to keep this place as a community resource.”

To make matters worse, the nearly century-old building was supposed to undergo major repair soon.

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“This will set us back two years probably, to repaint the building and so on,” Wass said. “It will take us that long to accumulate rental revenues to come and repair all this.”

A GoFundMe has now been set up to raise money for the club.

Vancouver police say the damage could cost thousands of dollars to repair.

Sgt. Steve Addison said police are seeing an increase in graffiti.

“It’s a big problem,” he said. “We are seeing it in every neighbourhood all over the city. It’s not just in back lanes and on dumpsters anymore.”

Addison urged the public to report graffiti, noting recent investigations, including an incident of vandalism at an East Vancouver church, have led to charges.