COMMUNITY-spirited volunteers have saved the cash-strapped Oasis Centre in Gunnislake from closing at the end of this month while possible take-over bids are being investigated. A team of villagers have come forward to offer their help in a bid to keep the centre open after it hit a major funding crisis. Oasis will open again after the Christmas and New Year break on Tuesday, January 15, and every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon from then on. This means that internet access and computers will be available to schoolchildren who can drop in and do their homework. Job advertisements will also be displayed. Other organisations such as 'Link into Learning' will continue to use the centre. Calstock Development Trust (CDT), which runs Oasis, is still looking for a longer term solution and is in talks with Learning Plus and the Youth Service in Caradon to see if they can help. 'There are no guarantees at the moment but at least by keeping the premises our options are still open and the community can keep on using it, said CDT secretary David Lane. 'If we shut it, that is the end of it.' Mr Lane said there was enough money to pay the rent and the services for the best part of a year but not enough to pay staff. The centre needs £20,000 a year to function fully. For nearly four years, the premises has acted as a job and skills centre, training people to get back into work and a homework venue for children without computers at home. Numbers using the centre rose from 40 to 140 a month on the two days a week it was open. Mr Lane added: 'The more volunteers we have the longer the centre can be open so if anyone can spare a couple of hours a week and has some basic computer skills please call 01822 834303 or contact us by email on: [email protected]">[email protected] Manager Jane Uglow, described by CDT members as the linchpin holding the Oasis Centre together over the last year, is leaving her position at the end of the month to work on a county council farm conservation project in another part of East Cornwall. Member of CDT and parish councillor Norma Greenslade said it was 'brilliant' that people felt so strongly about the Oasis Centre that it could carry on. She said: 'Jane will be sorely missed because she has built up such a rapport in the village but we are really grateful to the volunteers who have come forward. 'Nobody wants to see it close but it seems everyone we have been in touch with is in the same boat as far as funding is concerned.'