A gutsy community leader is battling to save a youth club – despite the trauma of having his second leg amputated yesterday (June 14).
The day before going under the knife to remove his left leg below the knee, Malcolm Cotterell issued a call for volunteers to sign up to help run the club at the Ridgeway Centre.
The 58-year-old chairman of The Buckskin and Worting Community Association said he fears the youth club could be scrapped unless people offer to help out.
“Without volunteers donating their time and effort and turning up we are going to be stuck,” he said. “While it is not the easiest job in the world, the work is invaluable for youngsters around here.”
The association needs six to eight volunteers for two and half hours on Mondays and Thursdays from September.
The club provides activities including cooking and table tennis for youngsters aged between 13 and 18.
It was run by Hampshire County Council, which funded two paid support workers.
But the posts were axed earlier this year when the cash-strapped council slashed its budget.
Malcolm said: “We used to have staff paid for, but now we need to ask people to do the work for nothing. The money has gone from the county and it is not coming back anytime soon.
“But we need to keep the youth club running. We want to see happy faces at the Ridgeway, not sad ones, not kids on street corners making mischief.”
Despite battling against a host of health problems, Malcolm is determined to keep the association ticking over.
He has dialysis three times a week after his kidneys failed due to blood poisoning and he had to have his right leg removed three years ago.
But he said being chairman of the community group helps him cope with his disability.
He said: “I can’t let these problems shut me down. If I did that, I would sit in my chair seven days a week looking at a square box in the corner of the room. I am not going to go like that.”
He is supported by his partner of 14 years, Cilla Smith, who sits on the association’s eight-member committee.
He added: “The committee is going through a very difficult period at the moment with all the funding cuts. But if we get through the next three of four years we should be okay.”
For more information, call 01256 470665.
