Kenilworth's community activities are in danger as the Kenilworth Centre struggles under the cost of living crisis.

Over the past year, the centre has been hit with major hikes in bills, as well as facing a number of unexpected extra costs, and is now working harder than ever to secure funding.

According to the recent manager's report, the centre's fixed costs are now outstripping its income by around £3,000 each month.

Having been closed for some of the pandemic, the Abbey End community space has also had to catch up on repairs and maintenance over the past 12 months, and predicts even more money will need to be spent over the next two years on the upkeep of the building.

Founded in 2009, the Kenilworth Centre (tKC) supports a wide number of community initiative such as kickboxing, yoga, baby-sitting, pop up cinemas and cafes, clothing distribution and many more.

tKC also works closely with Compassionate Kenilworth, to support people suffering with isolation and those struggling in the cost of living crisis.

But while the centre is focused on helping others, it has not been immune to the impacts of rising costs over the last 12 months.

Then chair of trustees Cllr Richard Dickson welcomes joint managers Sarah McCaffrey and Rebecca Webb to the centre in June 2022 (image supplied)

"For us as a charity we've been impacted ourselves, in terms of the increase in the rise of our utility bills, which has been quite shocking," said joint centre manager Sarah McCaffrey.

"This time last year we also discovered that we had to completely replace the boiler so we had a few months where we didn't have any heating."

With no access to core funding, the centre relies on income from bookings, grants and personal donations.

But with other groups also struggling, the centre is seeing a reduction of numbers in companies that use its space.

Sarah explained: "It's those kind of people that we want to be supporting.

"So for us, it's trying to find a balance of how to support those people but we've also got to maintain our own stability for the future as well."

Rotary Club of Kenilworth's charity advent calendar is raising money for the Kenilworth Centre (image via Rotary Club of Kenilworth)

She added: "Whilst our prices our increasing, hugely, we feel that passing it onto the people who are using us, is a very difficult thing for us to balance because they're struggling as well."

The centre says it is committed to continuing to provide support for young people, as well as various other groups in the local community.

"There is always an issue of young people, when you get to age 13 plus, in the smaller towns, there is a lack of facilities for young people to hang out," Sarah added.

"There was a lot more youth provision 10 to 15 years ago than there is now."

But she said the centre is receiving a lot of support from local people, and has also recently received a grant from Kenilworth Town Council.

The centre is looking to recruit new trustees who can also help access new streams of fundraising.

"We are very lucky to have a lot of support in the community, which is really nice," Sarah explained.

"We have a board of trustees working very hard."

Cllr Peter Jones presents a cheque to the Kenilworth Centre at the end of his mayoral year (image supplied)

And despite the challenges of the last 12 months, the centre has actually widened the services which it offers.

In the past year and a half, Sarah and joint manager Becky Webb have helped with the roll out of more Warm Hubs, mentoring, a young men's group and a pathway to work project.

"Since we've been here, Becky and I have developed a lot of the new programs." Sarah said.

"With the hubs, if you're struggling with cost of living, its somewhere where you can come and get a hot meal but also there's music and its a social event because its not just about people who are struggling financially, its also about people who are struggling to find their place in the world or are feeling isolated."

To find out more about supporting the Kenilworth Centre, head to the website here.