AN independent charity supporting families in the Bordon area could be forced to fold if it cannot find additional funding.

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 very real threat to the future of the service, with other groups in Hampshire having closed this year due to lack of financial support.

Launched in 2004 as part of a national scheme but focused locally, Home-Start WeyWater, based at Bordon’s Chase Children’s Centre in Budds Lane, 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 town and parish councils. 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 it has enough money to pay staff and outstanding bills should it go under.

That money can not 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 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 employs five part-time staff but at least one could face redundancy at the end of March when its current funding runs out.

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