CHILDREN in Greenock’s east end have been left with no panto this year because of a lack of funding.

Crawfurdsburn Community Centre has been forced to shelve its annual festive treat after being told it had lost out on its grant from the council this year.

Up until this Christmas, families have enjoyed panto performances either in the centre or been taken on a day trip to a Glasgow theatre for the festive treat.

Local people have blasted the decision — saying it is another bitter blow for the area.

Mum-of-two Linzi Steele, of Clynder Road, said: “It is a real shame because all the kids love it.

“It has always been something for people to look forward to and it is great for community spirit.

“We went along to the panto when it was in the community centre, it was great.”

Linzi, her two sons Murray, five, Miller, two, her mum Margaret and her little brother Cameron, seven, pictured, all enjoyed the panto.

She added: “I think it is hard just now for all the community groups. Everyone seems to be having their grants cut.

“My mum used to help to organise the panto. It is a shame for the children who had been looking forward to going and might not get to see a show at all now this year.”

Outraged community campaigner Margaret Holland, of Brown Street, has been left reeling by the latest blow to the area.

She said: “It really is terrible that there will be no panto for the kids.

“There are families here who can’t afford to go on their own. It’s the kids who are losing out.

“We had a panto for years and years here. It is something that we have always done for the children of the area.

“Crawfurdsburn has also lost its playscheme within the centre this year. 
“It is a shame because we fought so hard to get a community centre in the first place.”

The Tele understands in recent years the community centre committee used £1,000 from the Grants to Voluntary Organisations fund to subsidise the panto trip, capping the cost at £5 for families hard pressed at Christmas time.

The streets around Crawfurdsburn Community Centre are included in the top 100 most deprived areas in Scotland, with families there among the lowest incomes in the country.

The Grants to Voluntary Organisations fund had £135,000 to be dished out by the council’s grant sub committee.

Some of the money was used to support eight summer playschemes, run by Inverclyde Leisure, which did not include Crawfurdsburn Community Centre.

Other groups to get grants from the sub-committee included Greenock Art Club, Greenock Light Opera, Fort Matilda Bowling Club and Grosvenor Bowing club.

The Tele has been told that the community centre committee applied for the funding as usual, but was told that they were ‘too late’ and that there was no money left in the pot from this year’s allocation.
Inverclyde Council failed to meet our deadline when asked for a response.