Eastbourne children’s charity forced to close for good ‘with a heavy heart’

Embrace East Sussex, based in Wharf Road, announced on Facebook yesterday (Thursday, November 18) that it would be closing down.

The post said, “After much soul searching, many phone calls and hours of lost sleep it is with a heavy heart that we are posting this message to inform you that our Board of Trustees have come to the unanimous decision that Embrace East Sussex should close effective immediately.”

The post went on to say covid has caused the charity to have ‘the hardest two years’ of its existence due to forced closures and isolations rules.

The grants and funding schemes usually supporting the charity have also become ‘unreliable’ because of a ‘higher demand for funding from other charitable causes within the charity sector’, the post said.

It said, “The very last straw for us has been a lack of staff and volunteers to man the Saturday Club forcing us to close the respite club otherwise run with safety issues which we cannot, in all good conscience, do.

“As I hope you will agree, we cannot continue to struggle as we have and for this we cannot apologise enough.”

Staff and management are finding the news ‘very upsetting and difficult’, according to the post.

The charity is holding a closing down sale today (Friday, November 19) until 5pm at the Embrace East Sussex Centre, 20 Wharf Road, BN21 3AW.

The Christmas Fayre which was planned for tomorrow (Saturday, November 20) will not being going ahead.

If you have any questions about the closure email [email protected]