DEPRIVED children could go without a summer treat after youths sneaked into a Morecambe charity shop.

The youngsters went into International Aid Trust and distracted a volunteer so that an accomplice could make off with a £100 vacuum cleaner.

And it is not a first for the Albert Road charity.

It has already been forced to dip into hard-earned cash once this year to spend thousands of pounds fixing windows and doors broken by stone-throwing yobs.

Spokesman Bill Rushworth says the cash needed to replace the vacuum cleaner would have sent two deprived children to a special holiday camp in the Ukraine for two weeks.

"We are in the West End of Morecambe, which is a vulnerable area, and we suffer from a lot of petty crime," he told the Citizen.

"It is frustrating because it is just one thing after another, which means that we have to use money we raise to fix and replace things while the demands on what we do abroad are getting bigger."

But he vows that the charity, which has expanded to five shops in the West End, will not give in.

"There are some lovely people in the West End and we are very happy here - it is just a minority who are doing this.

"If they want to come in and see what we do and the people who we help they are more than welcome. It might just change the way they behave," he says

Mr Rushworth also wants more volunteers to help reduce thefts from the shop. For more information, call 01524-413345.