An after-school club has been given a £200,000 reprieve weeks before it was due to close on its tenth anniversary.

The Holme Wood-based Kidz Zone faced a desperate cash shortage until the European Union's Regional Development Fund stepped in to guarantee its future for another two years and nine months.

The group was established by City Challenge to give parents who would otherwise be unable to afford childcare, a chance to get back to work.

About 75 families in Holme Wood, Bierley and Tong send their children to the sessions, which are held before and after school and in the school holidays.

Unit manager Denise Lindley, who has been with the group since it opened in 1993, claims it has played a major role in giving parents a second chance and keeping their children off the streets.

She said: "We are absolutely thrilled. It is such a relief for everyone.

"If we had not been given this grant then we would have closed in March, it is as simple as that.

"If the centre was not around then a lot of parents would not be able to work."

The group, which also employs 14 full and part-time local residents, operates from two sites, at Ryecroft Community Centre on Kesteven Close and at Edward's Rainbow Centre, on Dane Hill Drive.

Children are picked up from a number of local schools and walked to the centres where they are fed and kept entertained with a series of educational activities.

Staff and students are now planning a party to celebrate the club's survival on its 10th anniversary in March.

"The children love it here. We cater for all different cultures and religions," said Denise.

"We rely on grants and parents' fees to keep operating and this is a godsend."

Councillor Michael Johnson (Lab, Tong) is in talks with senior officers at Bradford Council, hoping to enable the group to expand its operation to a new hall at the Pit Hill Centre, on Holme Lane.

He said: "Kidz Zone is an excellent organisation and is very much valued by people who live in the Tong ward.

"Without them, parents' opportunities to work would be very much restricted and their quality of life affected for the worse.

"I am delighted it is going to be around to continue playing such a valuable role in the community."