AN award-winning dance company for people with learning difficulties is making a last push to raise the £50,000 it needs to stay open.

In the past few weeks Anjali Dance Company has raised £10,000, but it needs five times that figure to plug its funding gap.

Next Wednesday, April 6, the company will host its annual gala at the Mill Arts Centre, Spiceball Park, Banbury, at 7pm, to try to give its appeal a final boost.

The charity, based at the Mill, is the only dance group in the country that specialises in training people with learning disabilities, aged from seven to 70. They also take their work out on tour to venues across the UK.

About 100 people, from Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, regularly train at Anjali, and many more attend workshops around the country.

But in the past three years the charity, which was set up 15 years ago, has lost £100,000-worth of annual contracts and as the Government cuts start to bite its funding will be further stretched.

Nicole Thomson, Anjali’s founder and artistic director, urged people and local businesses to organise fundraising events to support Anjali.

She said: “A huge thank you to everyone who has supported Anjali so far.

“It’s fantastic to have got to £10,000 so quickly, but we need to be quick.

“Our trustees need to be confident that funds are coming in swiftly enough to deal with the situation, otherwise they will have no choice but to close the company.

“If we close now, Anjali will be gone forever.

“It has taken many years of hard work and dedication to get Anjali to the incredible level of excellence that we have achieved and it will be a tragedy for people with learning disabilities in Oxfordshire and beyond if we have to close.

“If everyone does a little towards the campaign, we will be able to survive.”

Members of the dance group took part in a sponsored danceathon at Castle Quay Shopping Centre recently.

Tickets for the annual gala cost £10 and are available from The Mill Box office on 01295 279002.

To make a donation, or find out more about the group, view anjali.co.uk/keepdancing or write to Anjali Dance Company, The Mill Arts Centre, Spiceball Park, Banbury, OX16 5QE.