A FOOTBALL club are appealing for help after part of their stadium collapsed during strong winds caused by Storm Doris.

A shelter down the side of the pitch at Padiham FC’s Arbories Memorial Sports Ground tumbled over during gusts which reached up to 70mph in parts of East Lancashire on Thursday.

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The club’s manager Steve Wilkes said the breeze block wall with a corrugated metal roof had fallen down at around 4pm at the club’s Well Street ground.

The structure, which was around 10ft tall and stretched for around 40 yards, fell backwards and broke apart, causing damage estimated to run into thousands of pounds.

Mr Wilkes, said: “I was called at around 4pm and told that the storm had let to the shelter along the side of the ground going over.

“It stretches from the corner of the ground to around 15 yards past the penalty area.

“It provided shelter for fans so it was particularly well used when it was raining.”

The club’s game against West Didsbury and Chorlton will go ahead as planned tomorrow with a 3pm kick off after the area was made safe and debris cleared.

Padiham FC lie seventh in the North West Counties Premier Division.

The club’s ground is graded to Northern Premier standard with disabled access and the club have a recently built a club house, bar and tea bar.

Mr Wilkes said the club were appealing for support in rebuilding the structure in the near future and were looking for help with materials and construction.

He said: “The club would be very appreciative if there are any tradespeople of materials suppliers who could contribute to getting the shelter rebuilt.

“We a community club run on a tight budget and it would give us a boost if we could get right this situation as cheaply as possible.

Anyone who can help is asked to contact Mr Wilkes on stevewilkes16@hotmail.co.uk or the club’s chairman Shaun Astin at shaun.astin@ntworld.com.

Thursday's storm caused minor structural damage throughout the area, toppled several trees and caused travel disruption on the roads and railways throughout the day.

Flood alerts are active for the Earby and Todmorden areas with more heavy rain forecast over the weekend and early next week.

The Met Office forecast today will be another wet and windy day with heavy and persistent rain continuing, especially over the hills.

It is expected to be cloudy and wet with strong winds tomorrow with Monday and Tuesday becoming colder with sunshine and blustery showers, some of these will be wintry on the hills.