Below is the letter sent to recipients of the Rowleys Community Meals Service cancelling the service as of June 10th which caused a bit of hullabaloo on social media.

No prizes for guessing who is getting the blame?

The Facebook announcement caused quite a stir on social media … 67 odd comments and growing… then removed!

NB. No signature on the letter- so no ownership by the Board of Trustees? No mention of the £100,000 to be spent by WBC on repairing the roof of the Rowleys Centre – and no mention of any efforts made by the Board to self-fund, either in whole or in part? In the real world of today, organisations have to get off their butts and raise funds from wherever they can. It helps if they lodge their annual accounts – the WW seeks but cannot find!

All Waverley’s older people’s centres were warned more than a decade ago by the Tory administration that they would have to fundraise as Government funding to all local authorities was being steadily reduced. Waverley has no statutory, duty to provide centres like Rowleys. Other centres including the Brightwells Gostrey Centre in Farnham,  Hazelway in Haslemere and The Clockhous in Milford have all received funding cuts. However, Rowley’s actual annual income increased this year – no mention of that here though?

The Waverley Web understands that council officers have bent over backwards to assist with funding, as has Cranleigh and Surrey County Councillor Liz Townsend. She recently brought in several new users into the Cranleigh centre, which has boosted its overall funding.