GOLDEN anniversary celebrations went up in flames for Southampton Hospital Radio after vandals set fire to the station.

The Hospital Broadcasting Association, based at Southampton General Hospital, held a tree-planting ceremony last Tuesday to mark its 50th birthday, but days later was faced with a bill for several hundred pounds after the fire.

The incident happened at around 4pm on Thursday when a couple of youths went to the back of the building, in Tebourba Way, and pushed cloth or paper through an airbrick.

Captured on CCTV, the youngsters then piled paper and other items outside the airbrick and set fire to them.

The flames, which rose to about three feet, were seen by passing motorists, who alerted staff at the nearby Tesco petrol station, and the fire service was called.

Station manager Alan Lambourn, who was in the building at the time preparing special radio programmes for Christmas, was alerted by an attendant from the petrol station and used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire at the back of the building.

The fire service then had to pump water into the cavity wall to put out the fire inside the building.

A large amount of smoke was created by the fire, which travelled up between the cavity walls, into the upper floor areas and then throughout the studios, through the air ducting system. But the blaze only caused smoke damage.

Station chairman Roy Stubbs said the fire had caused several hundred pounds worth of damage.

He added: "Only last Saturday we raised £930 when our members spent the day at the front door of Tesco, shaking collecting tins - and here we go again spending our hard-won donations on vandalism repairs.

"Our security cameras are directed at the front of the building to monitor the car park and entrance way - I suppose we will now have to invest another £2,000 on putting cameras at the rear of the building as well."

Anyone with information about the fire should call Hampshire Police on 0845 045 4545 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.