Closing time: Parents and children don't want to lose Club 519
A unique special needs sports club in Kingston, which provides activities for children under eight, looks set to close on Saturday.
Keen users of the fortnightly Club 519, based at the North Kingston Centre in Richmond Road, were told the club would be discontinued because of low attendance, with the final sessions for members aged between five and 19 being held this weekend.
Parents argued in a letter to the council that numbers were low because the club has moved location twice recently, causing some sessions to be cancelled, but said it was now settled at its new base.
They added that the morning club was not publicised well enough and asked the council to show more commitment to special needs sports, move towards identifying potential Paralympics contenders and develop sporting talent.
Rob Hughes, whose six-year-old son Owen attends every fortnight, questioned the sense in closing the club when no alternative options were available.
He said: "Owen's going to be so upset when it closes - he talks about the club non-stop in the two weeks between sessions and always wants to know if it's the weekend he gets to go.
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“Owen’s going to be so upset when it closes – he talks about the club non-stop in the two weeks between sessions and always wants to know if it’s the weekend he gets to go."
Rob Hughes
"When they told us it was closing because of insufficient numbers we were absolutely gutted - they say it's been advertised but it's not been promoted greatly."
A spokesman for the council's Active Kingston Team said the club had been publicised through every avenue possible and despite wanting to keep the club open the council couldn't justify running activities for so few children.
She said: "On average there were about six children in the younger class and two in the older class so you've got to make a judgement call because you can't run it all."
She added the council had worked closely with Special Olympics Surrey to set up a fortnightly athletics, football and boccia evening for eight to 80-year-olds at Richard Challoner School for people with disabilities.
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