Boy spits at instructor after yobs disrupt Pilates class at Hordle Memorial Hall

A PILATES instructor was spat and sworn at when yobs disrupted her class at a New Forest community hall.

Joanna Horsford was horrified by the disturbance which happened as she ran one of her Jo Jo Pilates sessions at Hordle Memorial Hall, next to All Saints’ Church in Hordle Lane.

One of the secondary school-aged youngsters attacked her after being found hiding in the men’s toilets, from which the others had fled.

“I saw they had thrown soap all up the walls, stuffed paper towels down the toilets and the sinks and put the taps on,” Joanna (40) told the A&T.

“One lad was hiding behind one of the cubicle doors so I told him to leave, but he spat at me and swore at me.

“I was mindful that I couldn’t manhandle him, so I kind of ushered him out the door and he ran off. It was not a nice experience.”

She first noticed up to 10 youths – mostly boys on bikes – outside shortly before 6pm while setting up on Tuesday, but they soon disappeared.

About five or 10 minutes into the first class, there was a bang at the door which Joanna initially assumed to be a late arrival, but when she opened it, the church’s wheelchair was pushed along the corridor towards her.

The group again seemed to disperse after she went outside and told them not to disturb her class, but the mess in the toilet was discovered following more commotion about 10 minutes later.

A shocked Joanna said: “I would be horrified if any of my children behaved in this way, and I think many of their parents would be horrified if they knew what they were doing.

“There’s harmless fun and then there’s stepping over the line.”

The incident prompted her to lock the hall’s front door for the first time in nearly four years of holding twice-weekly classes there.

Banging on the door continued for a short time before the youngsters finally left.

Joanna and three of her students later spent about 15 minutes clearing up the mess in the toilet.