A CHILDREN'S play scheme could be forced to close because funding has dried up.

The Tottington Holiday Play Scheme has been providing summer activities for children aged four to 12 for more than 25 years.

It operates for three weeks every summer at Tottington High School, Laurel Street. More than 250 children are members and there is an average daily attendance of 100.

Organisers previously relied on funding from Bury Council - receiving up to £5,000 a year to cover the costs of full-time supervisors, Ofsted registration and hire of the premises - but their grant was not renewed this year.

They managed to secure eleventh-hour funding from a government body called the Local Network Fund but next year that pot of money will also disappear, putting the future of the scheme in doubt. Parents currently pay £1.50 per child for a morning session or £8 for a full day.

Organiser Brenda Fairhurst said the scheme's ethos would be ruined if charges had to rise.

She said: "The council might argue that working parents can afford to pay more for commercial daycare but daycare is not our main purpose. We provide something to do for all children in Tottington, whether their parents work or not, because there isn't anything else for them.

"If we don't receive funding we will have to charge a hell of a lot more and that would put the scheme beyond the reach of many parents, especially those who don't work. I'm afraid this could be the end of Tottington play scheme."

Councillor Diana Ashworth, whose remit covers early years, said the scheme had to become more self-sufficient.

She said: "There are play schemes that have relied solely on local authority funding. As time goes on we have less and less funds and it is now quite impossible for the local authority to directly support all these groups."

She said council officers had encouraged play schemes to develop a more business-like approach.