Dedicated volunteers at the Barrhead and Neilston Disabled Forum (Band F) were handed a lifeline after East Renfrewshire Council (ERC) agreed to allow them to pay the wages of carers part time.

The group was facing disbandment after ERC withdrew the group’s funding as part of a budget which requires the authority to find savings of more than £17 million.

Band F held what members thought was its last ever Christmas party in January of this year, and due to funding being withdrawn it will now reduce its operating days from three to just one a week.

The club had previously been guaranteed the use of the hall at Dunterlie Resource Centre free of charge.

However, not only has their funding — worth around £30,000 a year — been withdrawn, they will now need to cough up the hall fees for the one day they will manage to keep running.

Chairwoman Margaret Reilly told The News how for some members, Band F has been a lifeline.

She said: “We would like to thank all those people who have kept Band F going for more than 20 years, three days a week, year round.

“It has not been easy to try and deal with losing the funding, some members have been very upset about, there’s been a few tears.

“The members asked us to try and stay open at least one day a week, but it is quite sad that it has come to this point.

“For some, the Band F club is all they have, some members look forward to it because for them it’s the only time they get out the house to socialise.

“We will run for as long as we can for them” However Margaret says the club faces certain closure if additional funding can not be found.

She added: “But we can not afford any more than one year, and eventually we will have to close the doors.” The group faced almost immediate closure if ERC had not relented to the group’s request to stump up its own cash to cover the cost of carers.

But there has been a bit of relief for chairwoman Margaret Reilly and her husband James, the club’s treasurer, both 67, who say they are glad to have been able to retain the carers.

While they had enough money to continue running for another year, the loss of the carers would have been the death knell for the group.

James said: “It would have been very difficult for us to continue without the carers but now that we have been able to retain their services we can keep the club operating for another year at least.

“When we broke it to the members that we didn’t know what was going to happen with the future of the club they were really quite upset.

“So we were faced with a few choices, lose the carers and close sooner, or keep them and stay open three days a week for about four months or stay open a year and one day a week.

“The users themselves decided they would prefer it for a year at one day a week.” The club is the last of its kind in East Renfrewshire to open three days a week, offering activities, care and opportunities to socialise to more than 30 elderly and disabled residents.

They regularly hold days out to the seaside for members, as well as hold bingo afternoons and even get chiropodists and other specialists in to provide services that the elderly members would otherwise find it difficult to get a hold of.

Members are picked up by bus and are recommended to the club by other services before an application is made.