Colchester United

There have been well publicised issues around the funding of charities throughout the recession and the Trust has not been immune from the resulting impact.  

A further result of the current economic climate is that families and the community in general have had less to spend on recreational activities and this has affected many of the Trust’s traditional football and sports delivery.

Large projects that the Trust were responsible for; Creative Partnerships, Playing for Success and the Imagine Centre, had come to the end of their funding. The Trust was in the process of trying to attract new funding opportunities but this has not proved sufficient to prevent the Trust from ceasing to trade.

Linda Bamford, Chair of the Trustees, said: "It is so very sad that we have had to close the Trust. In the past few months we have explored every avenue to try to keep it going.

"This included moving out of the Weston Homes Community Stadium in December 2012 and reviewing all our activities and staffing levels to meet our budget. None of this has been easy."

Ms Bamford went on to say: "We have also had talks with other parties about partnerships or merges to continue the valuable services we have been providing and to retain staff employment.

"All this has been to no avail and as we looked at our financial projections we could see clearly that we would not be in a position to pay our creditors as they fall due.

"It is our fervent wish that someone else will, in the future, pick up the baton and continue this valuable work serving the Colchester community."

"It is with much regret, therefore, in accordance with the professional advice we have sought that we are required to cease trading immediately and make all staff redundant.