Suffer the children! In God's name, Knowles Tooth should stay open

Knowles Tooth Children's Centre is a unique and wonderful place to take children. It has games and art rooms, a trampoline, a zip wire, a boating lake, and acres of grounds.

Brighton Unemployed Centre in Hollingdean has been taking children - in particular, refugee children - to the centre in Hurstpierpoint for well over a decade, sometimes twice a year.

It is something that children who have no experience of going on holiday eagerly look forward to.

Knowles Tooth is a precious asset, with playworkers, a warden (already made redundant) and a minibus - and what must be a considerable investment in furniture and accessories.

Therefore, it was with shock that I learned the centre is closing at the end of November. There was no contact or consultation with user-groups, no attempts to involve those who had used the centre in the past. When we took a group for a weekend in September, we learned the news that this would be our last visit.

According to Family Support Work (FSW) - the charity that formally runs the centre - said it has lost £40,000 since April.  An examination of its accounts on the Charity Commission website, however, shows that the centre has never made a profit. Nor was it intended to.

In 2012, it "lost' £72,760 -  compared with £84,664 in 2013. So a loss of £40,000 after six or more months is not unusual. That is the purpose of a charity.

According to its own annual reports. comments from families have emphasised how important it is:

"Knowles Tooth is a place where we can express our emotions freely, not feel judged by anyone in doing so, a place of healing brought on by the fun., laughter and freedom experienced there".

Another mother said: "As soon as we arrived, I felt at peace. There is something about the place that I can't put my finger on but I just felt all my stress disappear'.

She went on to say: 'I took a book with me and for the first time in years I was able to read, while my husband played with the children'.

The obfuscation by the Church of England over the closure of Knowles Tooth would put David Cameron to shame.

The idea of transparency and openness does not seem to have occurred to the trustees. When the closure was announced, Family Support Work said that it had nothing to do with the church.

A cursory glance at its submission on the Charity Commission website reveals that the Bishop of Chichester, Dr Martin Warner, is its president and, in turn, nominates the chair and one other trustee; a further 21 trustees are to be nominated by the Deanery committees of the diocese.

To pretend, in response to inquiries, that the church had nothing to do with the centre was simply dishonest.

The gospels according to Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God".  It would appear that the good Bishop of Chichester does not entirely agree.

In a letter of October 1, Rev Jason Rendell, the Bishop's assistant chaplain, sent me a statement from Bishop Warner. At least it no longer pretended that the church was uninvolved in the charity that runs Knowles Tooth.

Apparently, the closure of Knowles Tooth was "a very sad consequence of financial necessity". Warming to his theme, Bishop Warner informed me that he hoped the trustees would be "rigorous, realistic and imaginative in assessing how to use limited resources".

The bishop went on to say that 'in stringent times, the model of partnership'¦. must play a vital part in the future work of FSW".

This was the message of an accountant - not of a bishop or a priest.

The Church of England is one of the richest organisations and one of the biggest landowners in Britain.

At a time of acute financial crisis for poor people, which impacts most on children, when fuel poverty forces thousands to choose between food and heat, the closure of a centre such as Knowles Tooth is something that Bishop Warner should oppose with all the considerable resources at his command.

He is described on the Chichester Diocese website as a "traditionalist"; it would seem that this not just a reference to the ceremony, but also to the Poor Law of 1834 - which the Church was heavily involved in promoting.