Lancing community hub could yet be saved as charity suspends sale proceedings

The Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) announced plans to sell the Chesham House Community Centre in South Street, a charity which dates back to the 1950s.

The decision was met with huge anger and sadness with volunteers labelling it a 'tragedy'.

A campaign to keep the centre open was supported by East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton and Adur district councillors.

"In recent days we have seen the huge passion of local people for Chesham House and we respect the fact that the community – who we have been working with for many years – feels strongly about the centre and the services our charity has provided there," an RVS spokesperson said.

"Following discussions, the leadership team at Royal Voluntary Service has decided to suspend current proceedings towards the sale of the building whilst we meet and engage with the local authority and other community leaders to look at all the future options and ideas that they are putting forward.

"We are pleased that local leadership wants to engage in finding solutions to this challenging situation.

"Once again, we would like to thank all our staff and volunteers who have supported the Centre and its services over the years."

Annick Lynn, who managed the centre for 15 years but resigned just after lockdown, was delighted with the news.

"It just shows what can happen when the community pulls together," she said. "It's a big step forward."

Chesham House has been described as an 'intrinsic part of the community' with more than 80 volunteers and hundreds of clients.

It offers a safe place for members of the community to meet up and take part in social activities, whilst enjoying homemade treats made by volunteers in the Vintage Tea Room.

Staff and volunteers had to stop providing a service during lockdown but believed they would be able to reopen soon.

However, having 'reviewed the feasibility and costs' of reopening the centre and running the services from there, RVS took the 'difficult decision to keep it closed and put it up for sale'.

When the building was facing closure, Ms Lynn, who said the service was 'thriving' before lockdown, said the 'volunteers don’t want to give up without a fight'.

She said: "Chesham House was Lancing. It's absolutely tragic they are talking about closing it.

"It's really bad the way the volunteers have been treated.

"We've been such an important part of the community for such a long time. It was tragic.

"It was a fight to get Chesham House built in the first place.

"The volunteers were so great at making people feel at home and welcome. You could feel that atmosphere as soon as people walked through the door.

"So many new friendships built through Chesham House. It's a travesty that they're thinking of closing it."

Mr Loughton had led a campaign to keep the centre open.

Speaking before the latest announcement, he said: "I am very grateful to the very hardy band of volunteers from Chesham House in Lancing who came out in the rain on Saturday to meet me and local councillors, including parish council chairman Mike Mendoza, to express their anger at the plans that have come out of the blue from the charity RVS to close this precious facility.

"I have been there many times to their vintage café, pensioner lunches, meals on wheels, prisoner quizzes, whist drives, computer classes and the many many other fantastic services that go on there. They even had been calling the bingo numbers on one occasion!

"The centre has been largely closed throughout the public with staff and volunteers still providing some remote services to users and we were constantly promise it would reopen soon.

"Now, without warning staff have been issued with redundancy notices and RVS has been completely quiet and the future of the building and how services could be saved or relocated.

"For a nationally respected charity with a long history of working for the community in Lancing in particular that is no way to treat the army of volunteers, staff and service users for whom Chesham House is a lifeline.

"Councillors and I are meeting RVS management this week and working with the parish council and Adur to see what can be done either to overturn the decision or make sure the activities can be provided elsewhere although it would be difficult to replicate the thriving hub that Chesham House has become."