A VILLAGE youth club has closed, giving only two days notice because it has run out of funds. The club s three staff were told the news this week that the Youthie club, next to the library in Warboys, is due to meet for the last time tonight (Wednesday)

A VILLAGE youth club has closed, giving only two days' notice because it has run out of funds.

The club's three staff were told the news this week that the Youthie club, next to the library in Warboys, is due to meet for the last time tonight (Wednesday).

David Ball, vice chairman of the charity which runs the club, Warboys Youth Action, said: "It's a shame but we have just run out of money. We can get fundraising for special projects but not for basic running costs and being a charity we cannot get into debt."

Mr Ball said the club cost between £800 and £1,000 a month to run including heating, insurance and staff costs.

Mr Ball said the group would still need to fundraise just to pay off a £500 debt.

It would close for the summer - the quietest time for youth groups - and hopes to re-open in September.

"When we opened in 2000 we had a nest egg of £30,000 but it is not as easy to fundraise as it used to be," Mr Ball added.

When the club opened, it refurbished part of an old school in the same building that is used for Warboys Library, spending about £28,000 which was then taken off the cost of the lease.

Mr Ball said it had been suggested that the teenagers who used the club pay for entrance but there had been reluctance by them to do that. For the past six years, the club has opened for two hours on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.

Youth worker Madelaine Smith, who has worked with young people in Warboys for 30 years said: "The club was somewhere for young people to go where they could let off steam. We have a large television and they could come and shout for their teams during football matches. It was so much better than meeting on street corners or a bench where they would be shouted at by the neighbours for making a noise. It was somewhere safe for them to go, where they would not get into trouble."

INFORMATION: The first fundraiser for the Youthie will be a disco on Saturday, May 19 at the WI Hall in George Lane off The High Street in Warboys. Tickets are £12.50, including food. Take your own drink. Tickets from 01487 823441 or 01487 823704.