WORK has started to help save a Blackbird Leys workshop for the disabled from closure.

As reported in the Oxford Mail, Pathway Workshop was forced to lay off six staff in December and restrictduce its opening times to three days a week.

The staff, who have physical and learning disabilities, make garden furniture and wood chippings.

But efforts are now being made to save the Dunnock Way workshop.

Blackbird Leys Parish Council gave the charity £3,000 out of its winter grant budget, almost 75 per cent of the total it had available.

General manager Mike Fleming said the money would go towards paying the charity’s rent for six months and give its staff “breathing space”.

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But with annual running costs of £120,000 to £144,000 and £40,000 of debts, the charity needs more.

Two of the charity’s volunteers, Adam Mayes and Rose Salt, have started a fundraising drive. Since October the pair have volunteered to help out once a week when they are not studying at the Rycotewood Furniture Centre.

Mr Mayes, 21, said: “We wanted to fill up our day off with doing something good and then we came across Pathway. It’s an amazing place for vulnerable adults.

“There are really few places like that which give people the opportunity to spend their time wisely.”

The pair, who live in Cowley, have set up an online donation page and Facebook group to try and raise awareness of the charity’s plight.

Mr Mayes, in his third year at the college, said: “We wanted to help and do everything we could to get them back up on their feet. We are spreading the word among fellow furniture-makers and wood workers as well as our friends and family.”

Mr Mayes and Miss Salt, 20, are hoping to raise at least £1,000.

This is not the first time the charity has struggled with money. In 2005 it narrowly escaped closure after securing eleventh hour grants.

The charity said it was struggling again because fewer people had been buying its products.

Mr Fleming blamed a lack of publicity and the rise of mass-produced cheaper products. Rising competition for charitable grants had reduced the amount of regular funding the workshop received and because the disabled staff get paid a wage, the charity is not eligible for Government funding.

To donate visit gofundme.com/savepathways, and for more information on the charity visit pathwayworkshop.co.uk