Cornwall Community Volunteer Services in Camborne to confirm service closures and redundancies

CAMBORNE volunteers and staff working with some of the most vulnerable people in the county were

today told it was time to "draw a line in the sand" over the

impending redundancies and service closures.

About twenty

Cornwall Community Volunteer Services (CCVS) employees are to lose their jobs

as part of the charity's cost-cutting measures.

The

organisation has already shut furniture bank Sofa Project and over the next few

months workers with visually impaired people, car and minibus drivers and

people who offer company at Miners' Court will face the axe.

At the charity's annual general

meeting (AGM) held at Camborne Community Centre earlier today, chairman Mike Firbank confirmed the

organisation's overall deficit was estimated to be £23,000 by the end of this year.

He said: "It has been a very difficult

second half of the year and the trustees had to make some very difficult decisions.

"For many people it came as a

shock and people felt quite raw in terms of how the decision was made."

The meeting, which was attended

by a handful of staff and volunteers, heard that the one and only service to

continue operating was Carers Break which was estimated to make a £18,500

profit this year.

Mr Firbank added: "We share your

frustration but we want to draw a line in the sand and present you with a clear

picture of where we are and where we are going.

"We are in a storm which

continues and our job is to try to get through that storm while supporting as

many people as we can. Otherwise the whole CCVS would have to stop because we

have no money to continue any projects."