A campaign to Save Our Linwood has gained support from a generation of people who used the club when it was first opened in the 1940s.

Their signatures were added to the Labour Party petition when protesters were in the town centre again highlighting their protest against the proposed county council cuts in the youth budget.

Cllr Pam Hawkins, a district councillor for middle Deal and Sholden, said: "The Save Our Linwood petition has really taken off since the Mercury threw its weight behind the campaign.

"Many of those who stopped to register their support in the High Street on Friday morning had attended Linwood when they were growing up in Deal.

"Now their own children and in some cases their grandchildren use the youth centre in Mill Road. They were angry and totally opposed to the county council’s closure proposals.

"This begs the question that if there was the funding and commitment to start up a youth club at Linwood during the years of the Second World War, why can’t the Tories at the county council find the cash to keep it going in 2011?"

The Labour Party is asking people to add their voices to its demand for the county council to save youth services in Kent and say no to the plan to close Linwood opposite Victoria Park, Deal, and also Aylesham Youth Club.

* For more details about where to sign the Save Our Linwood petition see the East Kent Mercury, August 18.