Elderly day centre in Stourbridge set to close
A popular day centre which supports dozens of elderly people in the Black Country will close this summer after more than 20 years.
Age Concern Stourbridge and Halesowen is set to close its day care centre based at the Mary Stevens Resource Centre in Oldswinford after losing vital funding earlier this year.
Bosses say that the sad decision will seen seven members left facing redundancy.
However, existing clients who attend the facility, which has been going for 24 years, will be offered the chance to enjoy day care at the charity’s Green Lane centre in Blackheath.
Chief Officer Dionne Legge explained: "The loss of funding has really effected us as we lost our grant at the beginning of the year.
"This has been an incredibly sad and hard decision to make but we do have another day centre based in Green Lane, where clients will be able to phone Ring and Ride to get there.
"We have around 25 clients a day, some use it five days a week or just once a week."
The charity was hit badly by the loss of its annual authority grant, which took effect from April 1 this year.
In previous years the charity had also been allowed to use the centre free of charge but Dudley Council announced earlier this year that groups and organisations using the building would have to pay.
Dionne added: "It has been tough all round for us and ultimately it will probably cost the council more in the long-run than us losing the grant.
"But we want to reiterate to our clients that they will not be left alone from this and we will continue to do our best for them.
"Over the past few years there are so many charity groups who have lost vital funding across the borough.
"It is such a shame."
A three-week consultation regarding staff redundancies got underway on July 3.
The centre is set to hold their final session on September 1.
It comes as a mass of care services across Dudley were struck with cuts in recent years.
Last year The Age UK Springboard activity centre based at the Waterfront, Brierley Hill, closed after losing vital funding.
More than 350 people aged over 50 joined in the weekly activities, courses and social events run by the Springboard project, which cost about £70,000 a year to keep going.
