Info centre looks to the Lottery for its survival (From Warrington Guardian)

Info centre looks to the Lottery for its survival

COMMUNITY leaders are pinning their hopes for the future of an information centre on National Lottery bosses.

Biddulph Resource and Information Centre in St John's Road, Biddulph, will be four years old this October.

The people who run the centre are hoping for a lottery windfall of £105,000 to make those birthday celebrations even more special.

Funding for the centre from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust ends this month, and the centre is bidding for lottery cash to run the centre for another three years.

The money it is seeking would pay for its running costs, including wages and rent, and a decision is expected from the lottery by the end of September.

"Receiving the money from the lottery would take the pressure off us," said Sylvia Rushton, one of the centre volunteers.

"The centre is very important to the Biddulph East community, and it's really their building.

"We aim to solve people's problems or put them in touch with someone who can, and we deal with about 5,000 inquiries a year."

Anyone who would like to support the centre can ring 01782-522950.

The centre is laying on trips for children to Southport next month and Blackpool in October.

The trips are being funded by fund-raising by the centre and a donation from Cllr Christina Jebb under the district council's members' initiative scheme.