Threat to axe hall a 'disaster' for community groups

Jan 30 2009 By Vicki Eltis

Plans to close Ansell Hall community centre in Walton could spell the end of a social group for childminders and children which meets there.

Hersham Childminders fear they'll be without a meeting place if Elmbridge Council makes good on its threat to axe Ansell Hall in Oakbank Avenue as part of a raft of cash-saving measures designed to save £106,500.

Sonia Cardofi-Welch, who has run Hersham Childminders for six years, said: "We will not be able to find another hall that we can use on a weekly basis. Ansell Hall is in a great spot for us because it's isolated and there is nothing else like it.

"We have up to 21 members and sometimes as many as 40 children. We would be lost without it and will probably have to stop running. There are no words to express the disappointment we would feel."

A mother and toddler group, Fingers and Thumbs, dog training classes and a twice-weekly boxing club also meet at Ansell Hall.

Kim Keith, 47, who has lived in Oakbank Avenue for 27 years, set up Fingers and Thumbs 17 years ago, and said: "I feel gutted, not just for my mother and toddler group but for everyone else who uses the hall.

"The boxing classes are over subscribed with people from the estate. Things have been going on at the hall ever since I moved here and it's people from the estate that keeps things going on around here."

Members of both groups plan to write to councillors to express their concerns over the possible closure, which would only save the council £12,700.

Single dad, Ben Phelps, who is a member of Fingers and Thumbs said: "The importance of these facilities cannot be quantified in financial terms. They provide important opportunities for social interaction. The local community would be far worse off without it. It is an integral part of the Field Common community."

¥ The proposed cuts will be discussed at meeting of Elmbridge's cabinet on February 11. The council is then required to recommend the 2009/2010 budget at a full council meeting on February 25.