An organisation which is a lifeline for people caring for loved ones at home is facing a cash crisis.

SHAPE, the Keighley Senior Health Awareness Project - which also promotes healthy lifestyles for people aged 50 to 90 years - runs out of vital lottery cash in March.

And unless a rescue package can be found in time, the organisation, which bought its Temple Street base only three years ago, faces closure.

It will leave members like 76-year-old Ena Camm, of Durrance Street, Keighley, bereft of a service which she says has helped change her life.

Ena has been looking after her 81-year-old husband William, since he became severely disabled 22 years ago.

"I look after him 24 hours a day but I get some help from my daughter Laraine and my son Darrell," she said.

"Eighteen months ago I was very depressed and at the end of my tether because I felt trapped.

"I came to SHAPE as a last resort. When I walked in I was in a bad state.

"But very quickly I felt much better - I got so much help and support from everyone that now I feel like a new woman."

Ena attends the centre every Wednesday and the Keighley Carers Forum.

"If it should close I'm frightened it would set me back again to being depressed.

"There must be somebody out there who can help," she added.

Co-ordinator Linda Wright, said they had been refused a second round of lottery cash and Bradford Council had turned down an application for a community grant.

"If we fail to find support by March and have to fold it will be devastating. A lot of work has gone into establishing the organisation over the past 11 years," she said.

"If we don't get financial help, the only thing we can do is wind the organisation up and sell the building."

She said it takes about £50,000 a year to pay a full-time salary for a co-ordinator and two shared out-reach jobs, plus the overheads and mortgage on the office.

Members and the 20 volunteers, including five retired nurses, raise £6,000 a year by charging for healthy meals, an entry fee and by organising fundraising events.

The organisation has grown from a one-day-a-week service to five days and is used between 150 and 200 people each week, she added.

It runs a Carers' Forum every month, acts as a drop-in centre, runs exercise classes, outings and activities, a respite service for carers and training and education about leading healthy lifestyles.

Anyone who can help should telephone Keighley (01535) 691731.

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