A MAJOR fund-raising campaign has started in Fordingbridge to replace the out of date and worn out heating system in the Avonway Community Centre.

If cash cannot be found the centre could close.

Centre manager Chris O'Connell said the centre is used by the elderly, infirm and very young and although a fund-raising campaign had been mounted "the future of the centre cannot be guaranteed unless the money is found to ensure warm and comfortable surroundings for its many hundreds of users".

Fordingbridge and District Community Association vice-chairman Adrian Ings said: "The existing free-standing heaters have been in place since the year dot and they cost a fortune to maintain and repair."

Hopes of putting in a complete heating system, insulation and double glazing throughout the building, the town's former primary school, were dashed when a National Lottery bid for £40,000 was rejected.

Mr Ings said the plan now is to carry out the project in separate phases.

The first phase costing £12,000 will pay for heating in the West Room, used by two elderly persons' groups every week: Dr Raye Straton's Luncheon Club on Tuesdays and the Day Centre on Thursdays.

The association has already raised £7,500 and another £5,000 is required for the work which needs to be commissioned soon if it is to be carried out before the bitter winter weather sets in.

"If we can raise the money by the end of the year then we won't have a problem," said Mr Ings, who is pinning his hopes on getting a grant from the town council.

"We have asked for £3,000. I think we'll probbably only get half that, but that will be okay."

Town council clerk Helen Tague said the grant would be discussed tonight (Wednesday, October 31).

In the meantime other money-making projects are being arranged in the centre.

The next is on Friday, November 9 when guitarist Mike Ireland will play a concert featuring the music of The Shadows. Then on Saturday, December 8, a Christmas Fayre will be held there. Tickets are available from Avonway every weekday morning.

  • Builders' merchants Elliot Bros, which has bases in Ringwood and Fordingbridge, has offered to pay for insulation materials.