Last chance to save Wide Horizons: Charity serving almost 50,000 children set to close today if £200K not raised

Up to 45,000 children from hundreds of schools will lose access to outdoor activities if a charity does not raise £200,000 by 5pm today.

Wide Horizons, a charity that provides outdoor adventure activities for school kids, is on the brink of collapse after Greenwich council decided last week not to provide funding.

More than 50 schools in Lewisham use the services, 75 in Greenwich and 29 in Bexley.

Up to 75 jobs are set to be axed along with the closure of nine centres across London.

John Miller, Wide Horizons sales and marketing director, said: “We had to tell the staff on Tuesday. There were a lot of tears, a lot of anger.

“We were under the impression that the money was secured.

“Everybody here believes that outdoor adventures is an integral part of a child’s education.”

The Wide Horizons enterprise was started in 2004 by Greenwich and Lewisham council.

Scores of schools across London, from Greenwich, Lewisham and Bexley in particular, use the charity’s facilities for outdoor school trips.

But they have seen a fall in the number of children using their services, which Mr Miller said is linked to falling school budgets and less disposable income in households.

They started devising a plan to restructure the business at the turn of the year to make savings and ensure its survival.

Wide Horizons chief executive Peter Rodgers said on Thursday: “It’s tragic really. The council only took the decision yesterday not to provide the loan, having known for four months that we would have to close without it.

“We are bitterly disappointed as they had implied right up until yesterday that they would support us.”

Members of staff received their redundancy letters yesterday, Monday 29.

Councillor Danny Thorpe, Greenwich council leader, said: “Just before the turn of the year Greenwich and Lewisham Councils underwrote a £1.4m loan to Wide Horizons based upon a new business model, but only a few months later the charity came back asking for an additional £400,000 as they were experiencing financial difficulty.

“Our assessment was that the additional funding would only keep the charity afloat until the end of this year, so we made it clear then that we could not provide more funding unless they developed a more sustainable business model. To claim we made a “last minute u-turn” is just plain wrong.

“Despite numerous requests, the charity submitted their proposals to us less than 48 working hours before a deal needed to be reached. Unfortunately it was clear that the proposed business model was not sustainable and that, with significant levels of overheads, it was not in the taxpayers best interests to provide any further financial assistance.

“The organisation, and its staff in particular, have provided a valuable service for children in the borough, so we are bitterly disappointed with this outcome. We will make sure the sites we own are protected and will explore options for them to continue to be used to provide outdoor education opportunities.

“We will liaise with schools in September and work towards a long-term sustainable solution. However, we have to spend our limited resources wisely and cannot continue to bail out a charity that clearly does not know how to manage its finances.”

A doner contributed £50,000 yesterday, which means the charity is now looking for £150,000.

To donate today visit the crowdfunding page on www.crowdfunder.co.uk/save-wide-horizons or call 0845 600 65 67.