AN Evesham youth club threatened with closure after funding cuts is now safe.

The Ourside Youth Club was faced with having to shut its doors for good but volunteers and former members have secured funding to keep it open until 2015.

The club is now a registered company and hopes to get charity status by the new year.

Carly Elwell, former club member and director, said everyone had come together after news of the cuts.

She said: “I have been involved in the club since I was 16.

“When we found out about the centre potentially being closed we set up the FAM group, which was young people who wanted to take on more responsibility.

“We now have a group of directors. There was such a surge of support from local councillors, businesses, volunteers, members of the community and the founders, which demonstrated the continued passion people have for the centre.”

The Ourside Youth Association will now have to apply for grants to keep the club going after 2015.

Rooftop Group, which provides social housing, has donated £10,000 to the club.

Ms Elwell said: “What we hope is by connecting with local businesses and getting services provided for us, as it is difficult to get grants for utilities. We will also carry on fund-raising ourselves.”

The new-look Ourside Youth Centre, in Broadway Road, Evesham, will now be open continuously from January next year.

There will also be a number of new positions available, including a youth centre manager, a positive activities worker and a clerical worker.

Anyone interested in applying for any of the vacancies should e-mail vacancies.ourside@ gmail.com for more information or an application form, which must be submitted by today (Thursday).