AGE UK Dudley has announced a popular service for the over 50s in Sedgley will close next month.

Last year, cash-strapped Dudley Council axed £308,000 of the charity's funding, leaving it unable to continue to offer its Daybreak service at two separate centres in Ettymore Road in Sedgley and Myles Court, Brierley Hill.

From April, the dozens of people who attend the Sedgley centre three days per week will have no option but to travel to Brierley Hill if they wish to continue taking part in activities and outings offered by the service, which the charity describes as "a major asset in tackling isolation and loneliness".

Running the service at two centres costs £215,000 per year, which was impossible to maintain without mainstream funding, according to Mark Thomas, the charity's senior manager and deputy chief executive.

"People are obviously very disappointed and concerned that the centre is closing as they like to have a local facility," he said.

"But they understand that there is nothing we can do, we have to react to local authority funding cuts."

He said the decision to keep Daybreak services at Myles Court was due to its central location giving the charity "an opportunity to serve more of the borough" and the fact it is able to run from Monday to Friday thanks to a partnership with Housing and Care 21.

Mr Thomas said that where possible, the five part-time staff and volunteers at the Sedgley centre would be deployed to Brierley Hill and the charity would be entering into discussions with Dudley Council, which owns the building, to see if there was any way of maintaining a presence in the area.

The charity's chief executive officer, Chris Szygowski, added: “It is extremely sad that we are no longer able to continue running our Daybreak service at Sedgley, it has been so successful and popular with the local community.

"We thank all of the staff and volunteers for making it such a success and thank our clients for their understanding and appreciation of the financial situation we now face.

"It has been a difficult time, but we hope that our clients will take the opportunity to continue attending Daybreak at Myles Court."

For more information about the Daybreak service, call 01384 340608.