Leonard Cheshire Disability's Maidstone Resource Centre in Tovil to close
09:00, 28 December 2019
updated: 11:29, 28 December 2019
A day centre which provides a lifeline for people with learning and physical disabilities is set to shut, devastated members have been told.
Maidstone Resource Centre, based in Tovil Green Lane, Tovil, provides visitors with the opportunity to join in group activities such as bingo, arts and crafts and outings to the cinema and shopping at Notcutts garden centre.
But, as of Monday, February 17, the meeting place will close its doors, leaving users with nowhere to go.
Charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, which runs the centre, has another site in Chipstead Lake, Sevenoaks, but many service users say they cannot make the 30-mile round trip.
Caroline Riley, has Huntington’s disease - an inherited condition which stops the brain working properly over time - and has been part of the group for four years, after she quit work and her health began to deteriorate.
When the 51-year-old joined she was still able to walk but now has to use a wheelchair to get around.
Her partner Steve Robinson, of Tonbridge Road, Barming, says he and Caroline will be lost without the centre.
“It gives me the opportunity to go shopping and walk the dog,” he said. “If I didn’t have that time to myself I would struggle to do it all. Now getting Caroline out everyday will be almost impossible.”
As well as helping his partner, a former silver service waitress, the staff and fellow members offer the 52-year-old support and check he is coping.
He said: “These guys have become a family to us and it is heartbreaking for me to watch them all be split up.”
Claire Hedger, 43, has Friedreich’s ataxia, a neurological disorder which affects coordination, balance and speech, and has been attending the meet-ups for close to 10 years.
Miss Hedger, of Coombe Road, said: “I am just so down at the moment, I am struggling to cope. I want to give up living, there is no point now.”
“We have got nowhere to go and I feel like I have been left to do nothing.”
At the moment she gets the bus in her wheelchair but doesn’t plan on making the long journey to Sevenoaks.
Her friend Ashley Walkling, who she met through the day service, said she wouldn’t leave the house if it wasn’t for the group. The 48-year-old, of Morris Close, Boughton Monchelsea, who has multiple sclerosis, said: “It is upsetting, we don’t want it to shut. We are like a family and we love meeting up and chatting. If we have a problem we like to share it and tell each other what our families have been up to.
“It is a support network. We can forget our problems, have a bit of a laugh and it gives us time away from home.”
The group don’t have anything special planned for their last session and don’t think they will be able to organise regular meet ups themselves.
A spokesman for Leonard Cheshire Disability said the service was being shut down due to a lack of demand and confirmed it was is in talks with local authorities to find a new space for the group.
It currently sees on average 30 people a week.
A statement from the organisation said: "We appreciate that the decision will be unsettling for service users and staff.
"Our priority in the coming weeks will be to work with Kent County Council and our staff in order to maintain continuity of service delivery and employment.”
This isn't the first time it has been threatened with closure.
In 2015, when it was housed at the Royal British Legion Village’s Churchill Centre in Aylesford, Leonard Cheshire Disability said it couldn't afford the rent for the building.
After putting out a plea to find a new venue, the centre found its new home in Tovil.
