AN urgent cry for help from a cherished commiunity centre in?Okehampton has been answered by a charitable body.

The Ockment Centre found itself in financial difficulties following the loss of crucial revenue, rising electricity and gas bills, as well as the desperate need for maintenance of the building.

Centre manager Lindsey Svensson applied to the Okehampton United Charities (OUC) for a £12,500 annual grant to help meet the annual financial shortfall — the OUC has donated £12,500 at this stage so the centre can stave off its current financial problems.

In six months' time the centre will give a presentation to OUC?trustees in the hope of persuading them to donate further. It will show how the centre benefits local organisations, social groups, and its vital work following the redundancies at town-based companies earlier this year. Staff helped people with the drafting of CVs and covering letters, and offered employment advice.

Pathfinder, the organisation to help people get back into employment, ran a back-to-work club at the centre, but lack of funding meant it closed in September.

Lindsey Svensson, said of the OUC donation: 'We are so grateful to the Okehampton United Charities for this money, as it will get us out of our immediate troubles.

'For some years now we've survived on a few very small grants, in particular the one we receive from the town council, and that has helped us. We try where we can to have our own income.

'We generate around £80,000 a year through room rentals — when you consider we let out some of the smaller rooms for £10 a time, it takes some doing to raise £80,000.

'The fact we have to pay quite a large rent to Devon County Council and that electricity and gas bills have gone up so much, means we are having difficulties again, and finding it very difficult to make ends meet. We generate, normally, £7,000 to £10,000 a month in income. That can include a grant.

'We can spend anything from £9,000 to £12,000 a month. The full cost for next year on a basic budget, including the town council grant, is a £12,000 deficit. That is fairly normal for us and we've managed to cover it all these years with grants but it's becoming increasingly difficult.'

One factor that hit the centre hard was the decision by Okehampton Children's Centre to move from there to Okehampton College.

The revenue brought in by the children's centre provided a key part of the Ockment Centre's revenue stream. The children's centre still holds courses at the Ockment Centre, but the loss of a steady income stream has been felt hard.

Financial cuts with the Citizens' Advice Bureau have also put the centre's future in jeopardy. If the CAB were to cease operations there, it could be 'the death knell' for the centre, according to trustee Tony Leech.

Budget cuts in other services have affected the centre in less obvious ways. It used to cater lunches for Devon County Council, the probation service and other organisations that use the centre for meetings.

Lindsey Svensson said: 'We could do as many as 600 lunches a month, which was very lucrative for us. We did it ourselves and did it well and we used to get quite good money from doing that.

'All the people we used to do it for have all had their budgets cut, so they no longer have lunches. They still come here for meetings but now we have gone from doing 600 monthly lunches to about 200 this year.

'It's a massive drop and through nothing we have done. We had a fabulous reputation for food but it's just the way it is with the financial crisis everywhere. We have really been hit by the fund-cutting of others. We are at the end of the line.'

Trustee Tony Leech is hopeful that West Devon Borough Council and Devon County Council can help again in the future: ' It would be very nice if Devon County Council or West Devon Borough Council could come up with something regular each year to assist the centre.

'The centre has so many people coming in asking for help and it helps at different levels, covering all different sorts of social groups and needs.

'If we could have a few more guarantees saying services will stay here at the centre, things would be much better.'

Staff are looking to encourage more local organisations and businesses to use the facilities and support the centre. They offer a range of room hire, meeting and conference facilities at competitive rates. There is a computer suite with up-to-date IT equipment that offers computer courses and opportunities.

They are also investigating the possibility of installing solar PV panels or a small wind turbine to help curb electricity costs and generate revenue.

For more information on the Ockment

Centre, visit http://www.ockmentcentre.org">www.ockmentcentre.org or call 01837 53276.