Bingo players were terrorised by teenage thugs - the day after funding for security officers ended.

Cherwell District Council had been paying the £30-a-night for security. The bingo club is now picking up the security company's bill in an attempt to safeguard the mainly elderly female players who attend the weekly sessions at Bretch Hill, Banbury.

Churchgoers who bought window screens for St Joseph's Church on the estate, after it was pelted with stones, have also paid the same firm to protect them from violence.

The attack on bingo players, which lasted for more than an hour, was part of May Day violence that started in the early hours of the morning when a motorcycle in Edmunds Road and one near the town's open-air swimming pool were fire-bombed by youths.

The bingo problems began shortly after 7.30pm on May Day evening when players inside the estate's new community centre were surrounded by the gang. Stones and bricks were thrown through the centre's windows.

Cherwell Council had reacted to past problems at the weekly bingo sessions by employing a security firm, Yarnton Security, to guard the players at a cost of £30 a night. But the council's funding expired on April 30.

Community association committee member Wendy Humphries said: "No-one playing bingo was physically attacked but the gang threw stones at the windows and caused a great deal of nuisance.

"We have employed the security firm now, but I suppose iron grilles over the windows is the only answer."

St Joseph's Church, also in Edmunds Road, suffered three months of attacks, including bricks and stones thrown through windows during services, showering the congregation with glass.

Churchgoers raised £8,000 to screen the windows and hired the security firm for personal protection.

The damage to the 1,000cc Kawasaki motorcycle was the third time in just over a year that machines belonging to 60-year-old Michael Bagshawe-Wheeler had been targeted. Two other bikes were stolen.

No-one has been arrested in connection with any of the incidents.