BURGLARS smashed a social club window before fleeing with a charity collection box.

Members of Woodstock Social Club in Oxford Street had been collecting money in a large whisky bottle for three years.

The bottle was about three- quarters full and contained about £200 to be donated to a cancer charity. One pensioner, who died recently, had been donating a pound a week in memory of her late husband. He had died of cancer.

Thieves broke through a kitchen window at about 4am yesterday.

Club steward Russell Thomas, 46, said: “It is despicable, but that is today’s society for you.”

He said the thieves had used a bolt cutter to chop through metal security bars inside the window.

The break-in set off a security alarm, which woke Mr Thomas upstairs.

He said: “By the time I got dressed they had been disturbed. They grabbed the nearest thing and did a runner.”

Mr Thomas said the money was going to be donated to Sobell House Hospice or a breast cancer research charity.

An RSPB box with a small amount of cash was also taken.

Anyone with information about the theft should contact police on 08458 505505 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.