A CHARITY is in within touching distance of being saved from closure after the public responded to a desperate plea for funding.

In just 11 days the Rainbow Centre has received donations totalling more than £100,000 after the Daily Echo highlighted its plight.

As previously reported the centre was facing a funding crisis warning that if it could not raise £150,000 by the Easter Bank Holiday, the centre, in Palmerston Drive, could close and staff would have to be put on unpaid leave.

But in under two weeks, the total raised now stands at £101,257.

Centre Director Lara Bull has thanked the public for their generosity but said one last big push is needed to reach their target.

Daily Echo:

Lara Bull, director of the centre

Mrs Bull said an elderly man had come into the centre yesterday and handed over £1,500 which enabled the charity to reach the new milestone.

However, Mrs Bull warned that yesterday the phones, which have not stopped ringing since the appeal started, had been quieter and urged people to help them raise that last £50,000.

“It restores your faith in humankind,” said Mrs Bull.

“What we’re desperately hoping now is that we get that last push.”

The Rainbow Centre teaches conductive education, which develops new neural pathways to undamaged parts of the brain, helping the person to master control of core muscles, limbs and movements.

It works with children with cerebral palsy, but also adults with conditions like Parkinson’s disease or those with a head injury or who have had a stroke.