End Of The Line

The closure of the centre was confirmed by the executive committee of the Council for Voluntary Service Arunwide at a meeting last week.

For the past three years the centre has provided a bridge between voluntary groups around the Littlehampton area and people looking to do their bit for the community.

But now the centre's initial three-year funding has run out and attempts to find alternative cash sources have drawn a blank. Bognor's volunteer bureau also lost its cash lifeline and closed last week, leaving the whole of Arun district with no "voice" for volunteering.

Centre manager David Hancock, who is losing his job along with assistant Derek Moore, said the situation highlighted the flaws of funding from lottery and other grant-giving bodies.

"They like to finance new and innovative projects, but when that initial period is over, that's it. It is pot luck whether you receive more funding.

"No one was prepared to address the problem of our core funding, to keep us going. The local authorities say they are short of money, so where else do you go?"

Hilary Spencer, director of CVS Arunwide, said the organisation was disappointed and frustrated to be losing the services of the centre and its Bognor counterpart.

"We will be fighting on and trying to get them open again as soon as possible. Submitting more funding bids and lobbying the organisations we are in partnership with is the only hope we have of securing more money, we are competing against so many other projects.

"It was a very hard decision for the executive committee to take last week, to close the centre and the bureau, but our difficulty is that we have very limited cash reserves."