Colchester United Community Sports Trust ceased to trade on 15 April 2013. The Trustees sought professional advice and have now taken the decision to place the Trust into creditors’ voluntary liquidation. It is understood a number of parents have pre-booked and paid for courses which, unfortunately, the Trust will no longer be able to run. The liquidation meeting has been scheduled for 21 May 2013 and formal notice of this meeting has been sent out to all known creditors. If you have not yet received the notice, but believe you may have a claim in the liquidation, please contact Rachael Knight at Mercer & Hole Chartered Accountants on 020 7236 2601 or rachaelknight@mercerhole.co.uk.
Please note Mercer & Hole are only able to deal with enquiries regarding any claim you may have in the liquidation, or the liquidation process itself rather than the continuation of any courses by third parties.
Monday 15th April 2013
Colchester United Community Sports Trust is to cease trading with immediate effect. All of its activities, at Shrub End and other venues, will be affected.
There have been well publicised issues around the funding of charities throughout the recession and the Trust has not been immune from the resulting impact. A further result of the current economic climate is that families and the community in general have had less to spend on recreational activities and this has affected many of the Trust’s traditional football and sports delivery.
Large projects that the Trust were responsible for; Creative Partnerships, Playing for Success and the Imagine Centre, had come to the end of their funding. The Trust was in the process of trying to attract new funding opportunities but this has not proved sufficient to prevent the Trust from ceasing to trade.
Linda Bamford, Chair of the Trustees, said: “It is so very sad that we have had to close the Trust. In the past few months we have explored every avenue to try to keep it going. This included moving out of the Weston Homes Community Stadium in December 2012 and reviewing all our activities and staffing levels to meet our budget. None of this has been easy.”
Ms Bamford went on to say: “We have also had talks with other parties about partnerships or merges to continue the valuable services we have been providing and to retain staff employment. All this has been to no avail and as we looked at our financial projections we could see clearly that we would not be in a position to pay our creditors as they fall due.
“It is with much regret, therefore, in accordance with the professional advice we have sought that we are required to cease trading immediately and make all staff redundant. It is our fervent wish that someone else will, in the future, pick up the baton and continue this valuable work serving the Colchester community.”
Representatives for the Trust can in the short term be contacted during working hours on 01206 572378. A further statement will be released in due course.
Colchester United Community Sports Trust became a registered charity in 2001. Prior to becoming a charity and company limited by guarantee the scheme was known as the ‘Football in the Community’ project at Colchester United from 1993.
The Trust operated using sport as a vehicle to increase levels of grassroots sports participation, improve people’s health and educational attainment and to build community cohesion.
CUCST’s long term vision was to work in partnership with communities, continuing to develop an inclusive range of sporting, educational and social opportunities, improving the quality of life for individuals and neighbourhoods.
Staffing:
Full time: 14
Part time: 24