‘Use it or lose it’ fears for Selston centre

Users gather at the Tin Hat Centre, Selston who are fighting to keep the centre open due to lack of funds. Pictured front l-r is Joy Kellington Administrator and Paulette Shurman Centre Manager.

Andrea Foster, Pat Lowe and friends have issued a rallying cry to people living in the Selston area after the concerns of its management committee about funding were expressed in its recently published AGM report.

The Tin Hat Centre, off Chapel Road, offers adult education classes, hosts fundraising events and has its own cafe. It also rents out rooms to businesses and for social functions and is the village’s base for Nottinghamshire Police and SureStart.

But centre manager Paulette Sturman has said that these are ‘very worrying times’ for the committee because it is proving more and more difficult to secure the funding it needs to keep open.

In her AGM report, treasurer Jean Gowen said that they are ‘continuing to look for new sources of funding’, while money is also now needed to carry out repairs to the 12-year-old building, as this has ‘hit our finances hard’.

“Our ongoing financial objective is to secure long term sustainability for our organisation by identifying new funding opportunities and new areas of business,” she said.

In a letter to the Chad, Andrea and Pat said: “There is a well known saying that is often used lightly - ‘Use it or Lose it’.

“It would be a sad loss for the community of Selston and the surrounding area if this was to become a reality.

“So if you have never visited the Tin Hat Centre before, why not pop along and see for yourself what is happening right on your doorstep.”

In the AGM report, Paulette added: “Finance remains our biggest challenge for 2014 and we are therefore looking to the community and local business for support to ensure when you need us we are there.”