A CHARITY which helped people access the internet and use computers has been forced to close after losing its funding of £32,000 a year.
Oaks Millennium Technology Initiative (OMTI) is known in Kendray as the 'computer club'. It used to have three staff running its training courses and a drop in centre where adults and children could use computers, but two had to be made redundant in 2011.
Mark Holland, who has run the centre on Farm Road at Kendray since it opened in 2001, carried on with the help of volunteers. He too was made redundant in March this year when council cutbacks meant its funding was removed completely and has carried on as a volunteer.
"We knew that will all the cutbacks that it may well be coming," he said. "We've tried to keep it going and to search for other sources of funding. The volunteers have been absolutely fantastic.
"But it's come to the point where if we go any further there isn't going to be money to pay the gas and electricity bills, so we've had to bite the bullet and close."
The centre closed to the public yesterday.
The centre has had more than 120,000 visits since it opened.
** The full story is in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated November 7. **
