AN independent charity supporting families in the Alton, Bordon and Liphook areas could be forced to fold if it cannot find an additional funding stream.

Home-Start WeyWater will see its main source of funding dry up in March following a decision by The Big Lottery to pull the plug on any organisation providing a service that it believes should be funded by the government.

According to Home-Start WeyWater trustee Ann Foulkes, the situation poses a real threat to the future of the service which has seen other groups in Hampshire close this year due to lack of financial support.

Launched in 2004 as part of a national scheme but focused locally, Home-Start WeyWater has been hit by “a triple whammy”. The Big Lottery, which has provided the bulk of its funding for the past five years, is closing its doors to Home-Start, but at a time when local government funding is being cut, throwing a question mark over how much support the charity will receive from East Hampshire District Council and the respective town and parish councils.

In addition, it has become law for charities such as Home-Start to hold a legal reserve, which in the case of WeyWater is around £46,000, to ensure that it has enough money in the coffers to pay staff and outstanding bills should it go under.

That money cannot be touched but it still shows up on the accounts sheet as a healthy reserve which, Mrs Foulkes believes, could act as a deterrent when seeking financial support.

A unique service open to all families who have at least one child under the age of five, Home-Start WeyWater has a team of trained volunteers who offer friendship and support to parents who are finding it difficult to cope, helping to prevent family crisis and breakdown.

The charity is managed by a board of trustees who ensure the group operates within the constitution and to standards and methods of practice laid down by Home-Start UK.

Home-Start WeyWater currently employs five part-time staff, but at least one could face redundancy at the end of March when its current funding runs out. According to Mrs Foulkes, the number of families the charity is able to support is calculated on one for every paid-for hour, with staff employed to train and support the volunteers, to meet and assess the families and their ongoing needs, and to match them with the right volunteer.

The charity currently has 27 families on its books, 16 of them living in the Alton area, with another seven waiting to be matched with a volunteer, and manages 35 trained volunteers, with nine more currently under training. In the last year, 124 families with 178 children were supported by home-visiting volunteers and group support.

Speaking at a meeting of Alton Town Council’s community and events committee on November 11, Mrs Foulkes explained the situation in which the charity now finds itself, saying that while its finances might appear healthy, with £50,000 in the bank to support this year’s service, on top of the reserve it was vital now to find other sources of funding.

As a former school headteacher, Mrs Foulkes said she knows what “a good impact” Home-Start volunteers can have in supporting a family in crisis. “They are brilliant. Loads of families have survived and are better now because of them,” she said.

Mrs Foulkes, and fellow trustee Andrea Poston, were there to seek the town council’s support for a sponsored Santa run in the town centre which they are hoping could become an annual event and eventually grow sufficiently to raise enough money to help to fill the looming financial black hole.

To take place on Sunday, December 13, the event will start in the Market Square with the three-kilometre run taking competitors down Cross and Pillory Lane and along the High Street to the top of Crown Hill, around the gardens and back down the High Street, to turn right up Market Street and into The Square. Open to those aged 15 and over, the run will start at 1.30pm with runners completing three loops.

It will be followed at 2.30pm by a one-kilometre Santa stroll for families and accompanied children who will asked to complete just one loop. The town centre will be closed to traffic for the duration.

Entry is £5 for the run and £5 for adults and £3 per child for the stroll. There will be prizes and medals fior the competitors.

Competitors are invited to dress up and to book early as places will be limited. Entry and sponsorship forms can be obtained from the Alton Herald office, on the Market Square, and from Waterstone’s bookshop on the High Street.

In agreeing to grant £175 to HomeStart Wey-Water to support setting-up costs for the event, councillors liked the idea of the Santa run which they felt would be “a really good thing for Alton” and one which they hoped would help the charity continue with its work in supporting families in the area.