A pioneering charity which employs young disabled people to recycle donated mobility equipment will close soon as it has not secured the £50,000 it needed to stay open.

And it's anything but a bright future for Brighter Future Workshop, of Skem. that's been in financial difficulties over the past year or so.

Following the closure announcement - which will see its Ormskirk base shut after nearly six years - Peter Cousins MBE, chairman, said: “We are absolutely devastated that we are going to have to close.

"We developed a unique charity that has achieved national and international acclaim.

“Since we opened in 2005 we have helped disabled people from two to 90.

“Our work has allowed disabled people to regain their mobility for a very little price.

“It is a great blow to us all at Brighter Future but the real loss will be felt by the young disabled people many of whom had been thrown on 'life’s scrapheap' being isolated and had little or no life and community skills.

“In Brighter Future they found a place where they could grow in confidence, learn to believe in themselves and reach a level of attainment and skills that they were never expected to achieve despite their disabilities e.g. Spina bifida, Downs Syndrome, and learning disabilities. Local disabled people will also lose the only outlet for mobility equipment and aids.

“Some of these kids have not been out of the house for years. All that is going to have gone now.

“I think we have been hit by people buying off the internet. On the web you don’t get the quality of service that we provide though.”

Brighter Future Workshop primarily served West Lancashire, it was created by local people with disabilities to help other people with disabilities, and operated by them.

It's trained more than 350 young disabled people during more than 120,000 training hours. The young people with disabilities work alongside technicians to re-furbish the equipment eg wheelchairs, mobility scooters, and powerchairs and to and they have helped to refurbish more than 35,000 pieces of mobility equipment.

The equipment is then sold back to needy disabled people who can't afford new mobility equipment due to its high cost.

Since 2005 it has won a host of awards, including a Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development; Best Social Enterprise England; Best Social Enterprise UK; Best Social Firm in Europe; Deloitte Innovation Pioneers; and The Big Society Award. It was also honoured in October 2012 by a visit from The Countess of Wessex.

Added Peter: “It’s a great injustice to the present and up-coming generations of young people with disabilities that will be denied access to Brighter Future and other charities due to funding cutbacks.

“We have worked tirelessly to make Brighter Future sustainable achieving 91% of our costs through earned income, but this in itself is not enough. Our showroom sales have dropped dramatically as local people are choosing to buy on the internet, and with no funding for three years leading to us depleting our reserves, we have no choice to close our doors before the charity becomes insolvent.

“I would like to thank the people who donated money to try help Brighter Future obtain the funding we needed to continue operating this amounted to £3,715 on July 20, the final amount raised will show in our final accounts and will be passed on to another charity with similar aims.

“We're holding a closing down sale at both our Skelmersdale and Ormskirk branches, we need to sell all our stock at reduced prices.”

This is how QLocal reported its Ormskirk opening: http://ormskirk.qlocal.co.uk/ormskir...7-51665735.htm

it's terribly sad that this great charity is closing down, we've had personal experience of the wonderful job they do, surely some business in the town could have helped out, what about the wealthy footballers who live nearby, only pocket money to them !! Perhaps the overpaid councillors could have chipped in.!!