"Major disaster" at Sidley Community Association

Learning Link staff members were made redundant on Monday having been notified of immediate closure last Wednesday - the day after SCA chairman John Izzard received a Bexhill Achievers Award.

He commented: "It is bad news. It is a major disaster.

"But we are facing a larger disaster in Sidley because our funding has virtually dried up."

Learning Link offered advice and courses to adults who wanted further education and training, and was run by manager Celia Hammond, plus two development workers Teresa Yilmaz and Lizzie Mulhern.

The decision was made by the board to protect its other services in the immediate future.

He commented: "We were facing a major loss which we had to stop.

"We were facing something like a 40,000 loss this year if we kept Learning Link going the whole year, and we couldn't sustain that sort of loss."

SCA now faces a struggle to maintain Sidley UK Online Centre, which has been providing computer training courses for adults since 2002 but is now "in serious danger".

Meanwhile 30,000 is needed to keep Sidley Young People's Centre which is a meeting place for youngsters aged 10 plus and last year had 269 members.

Opened in 1997, the building and the first six year's costs were funded by the Lottery, but now just 60 percent of the funding is secure while the rest must be found before Christmas.

Family services have been affected in that a Parent Scope worker, Jen March, was made redundant - the result being some 40 families left without support as they will not use the alternative service now provided from Hastings.

The Rainbow Childcare Centre has been well attended but needs to expand to 40 places to ensure its financial survival and discussions are being held with ESCC to fund the necessary changes.

Barnhorn Road resident Betty Szewczyk contacted the Observer when she found out from Learning Link staff that the service was ending and they were already packing up.

"Learning Link is to close because of lack of funds - they are all shellshocked," she said.

"It seems so awful to close something like that. It's learning - and that can't ever be wasted."