A CENTRE which provides adult education classes for disabled people faces a battle for survival.
A cash squeeze means Bletchingley Skills Centre is fast running out of money.
At its current rate of financial decline, the centre, in Stychens Lane, faces having to close in about three years' time.
And its "very valuable" work, stretching back 25 years, would be lost.
Each week dozens of students, many of them visually impaired, benefit from a range of classes including computer skills, cookery, numeracy and literacy.
The courses help students to become more independent and learn skills to enable them to seek employment.
The centre's chairman Peter Drysdale said: "We are facing monetary problems.
"It's a bit of a struggle because costs are going up, and income is going down.
"Our reserves are dwindling.
"At the present rate we have only got three to four years' reserves left.
"Very valuable work is being carried out at the centre – perhaps we need to publicise ourselves better because many people still don't know we are here."
He said one former student who is profoundly deaf had gone on to work for the Sight for Surrey charity.
And several others had gone on to find gainful employment.
One of the centre's success stories is Sonia Hunt.
Despite having curvature of the spine, a heart condition and being dyslexic, she has just completed her 11th year as Caterham Town Crier.
In her role she has met the likes of Prince Charles and Ken Livingstone, and has also won a Tandridge Citizen of the Year award.
Miss Hunt was a student at the centre when she had her "town-crying" baptism.
The centre's co-ordinator, Wendy Cope, encouraged her to stand outside the centre and drum up support for a Christmas fair with passers-by – and the rest is history.
A friends of Bletchingley Skills Centre group is being formed.
And its 25th anniversary will be marked with a fundraising event on October 3 in Bletchingley Village Hall.
To find out more, visit www.surreycommunity.info/bletchingley-skills-centre
