THE youth club in Sonning Common needs more money or it could close, says a parish councillor.

Colin Reynolds, who is on the management committee of Club SC, is to ask the parish council for grants totalling up to £24,000 over the next three years to help pay for staff.

He is proposing a grant of £4,500 to £6,000 in the first year, £6,000 to £8,000 in the second and £8,000 to £10,000 in the third.

The council, which has provided £13,500 towards salaries over the last three years, will discuss the issue on Monday at a meeting to set its budget for the next year.

Club SC, formerly Sonning Common Youth Club, has been operating for 35 years and costs about £25,000 a year to run.


It is based at Chiltern Edge School and was relaunched in November 2011 with a new youth leader and support worker after Oxfordshire County Council withdrew its annual grant.

Councillor Reynolds said: “We will always have a youth club if we have the salaries for the people who run it. As soon as you can’t pay them, it closes because we have nobody to run it. It comes down to the question: Do you want a youth club?”

Up to 60 young people attend the two club nights each week.

Cllr Reynolds said: “We have children who want to run around and play football and also youngsters who want to do something like making clothes or cakes and that mixed undertaking is what the youth club is about.”

Published 21/01/13