EFFORTS are being made to continue running day centres for the elderly in Okehampton and Hatherleigh, despite an announcement last week that Age Concern would no longer be able to provide the funding.
Day centre organiser Rosemary Davis is determined to keep the services going — they cater for up to 20 people at each venue, the Rugby Club in Okehampton each Monday and the Bridge Inn at Hatherleigh each Wednesday.
She said the difference was that Age Concern was no longer involved because of cuts in Social Services, but from now on money would be raised on a local level to try and keep them going.
'We will be fundraising ourselves by holding coffee mornings and other events and applying to grant sources to maintain this service which is a lifeline to many elderly people,' said Mrs Davis, who has been organising the day centres for eight years.
She said they were able to keep the costs down through having volunteer drivers to transport the elderly clients to and fro and they had managed to find someone to back them until they got on their feet.
'People were very upset when they thought the day centres were going to close but I will be trying my hardest to keep them going into the future,' added Mrs Davis. 'If we can raise in the region of £2,000 for each one each year we should be okay.'
Anyone who wants to find out more about the day centres should call Mrs Davis on 01837 810780.