A DESPERATE appeal has been launched today to keep the doors open on a popular Hampshire activities centre that has put smiles on the faces of thousands of youngsters with special needs.

Managers at Bursledon's Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Activities Centre face a race against time to find more than £21,000.

If the money is not in place by the middle of January they will have to close the facility down.

Now, they are appealing to the generosity of Daily Echo readers and local businesses to help them keep giving people with special needs the chance to try activities otherwise closed off to them.

Honorary secretary to the centre's management committee Neil Smith said: "The reserves are almost exhausted to the extent that in mid-January, without an injection of funds, it will be insolvent. We will have no money.

"I have got to plug this gap by mid-January or it shuts.

"It would be a terrible loss. It would be devastating to the special needs users of the centre who get so much pleasure out of it."

The centre, in the heart of the Manor Farm Country Park, has been running for over 22 years after being conceived and completed in just 12 months as a worthy tribute to the Queen's silver jubilee.

Ever since it has provided residential and day courses all year round offering people with special needs a chance to enjoy a host of outdoor activities.

But the centre - a charitable trust backed by Hampshire county, Eastleigh borough and Southampton city councils - has always been beset with financial difficulties.

In 1998, the then Eastleigh mayor Godfrey Olson, who is now the chairman of the management committee, used his civic position to raise thousands of pounds to keep the cash-strapped centre going.

Yet almost two years later the volunteer members of the management committee, who have little spare time for fundraising, have found the coffers empty.

This financial year the centre has a provisional outlay of £119,044.71 with an income of only £97,467.37.

With nothing in reserve, the centre's five instructors have already been approached to see if they will accept a temporary cut in their working hours.

Mr Smith, who will be recommending the centre's closure to a meeting of the committee on January 3, said: "The mayor's fund was supposed to be for capital works but it has almost all been spent on operational costs just to keep the centre going.

"Closure must be an option because it would be improper for us to continue to trade if we have no liquid assets to cover our liabilities."

County council bosses have already vowed to provide £5,000 and BP Hamble has started the ball rolling for local businesses to chip in.

But more help is needed - and urgently.

Vice-chairman of the committee June Sanders - whose husband, another former mayor of Eastleigh, helped set up the centre back in 1977 - said: "I am very anxious that the centre goes on.

"When the financial situation was spelled out to me I was shocked.

"We are looking for help from anyone, particularly the local business community. We are hoping for a quick response."

Anyone who can help the centre immediately and perhaps even over the long-term should contact Mr Smith on 01962 712610.