CAMPAIGNERS voiced their anger against plans to shut Sure Start centres in a Hampshire town.

They walked the streets of Eastleigh in protest at the proposal which they said was targeting the most vulnerable in society.

But this is just one of a number of protests planned in communities across the county in the coming weeks against Hampshire County Council plans to save £8.5million by cutting the centres from 54 across the county to 11 district hubs.

It comes after the Daily Echo reported that campaigners furious at the cuts revealed they had written to the Queen after county bosses agreed to give £10,000 to fund a party to celebrate the monarch’s 90th birthday in Winchester.

As reported, Hampshire County Council has launched a 10-week public consultation over proposals to merge all the children’s services in the county under one Family Support Service targeted at vulnerable parents and children.

In Eastleigh, seven Sure Start centres would close leaving only one.

The demonstration led by the Eastleigh Labour Party saw a group walk through Eastleigh town centre to the Wells Place Centre.

This was where the second of the county council’s 11 drop-in sessions designed to allow people to comment on the consultation was held.

Protestors carried placards reading ‘Stop Cutting Sure Start’ and ‘Kids not Trident’ and chanted “stop cutting Sure Start” and “save our Sure Start”.

Catherine Ovenden, who led the campaign to save Sure Start centres back in 2011 and is spearheading the campaign once again, said she would continue to fight.

She said they hoped to raise public awareness and urged people to make their feelings known in the consultation.

She hopes to have a protest presence at every drop-in session in the next month.

Mother-of-two Catherine, of Totton, who no longer needs the Sure Start centres for her own children said: “They’re so important for every community. It could change children’s future, especially vulnerable families.”

A large protest is planned for the next drop-in consultation session outside Lyndhurst Community Centre on tomorrow at 9.30am.

Consultation ends on May 3.