Jon Kingaby centre back, with daughter Charlie, front, and Diana Condon, right, and son ElliotGAZETTE & HERALD: DESPERATE parents trying to establish an after school club for children with special needs in Chippenham have made a heartfelt appeal to find a play leader.

Jon Kingaby said parents of children at St Nicholas School had been frantically advertising for a qualified play leader for the past six months but had had no luck.

Parents are now anxious that plans for the much-needed club will have to be abandoned, even though funding for the scheme has been secured.

In a last-ditch attempt to find a leader, Mr Kingaby said: "The children will be losing out if we don't get this off the ground. We don't want to let them down."

Mr Kingaby, whose eight-year-old daughter Charlie is a pupil at St Nicholas School in Malmesbury Road, said the £8,500 he had raised to start the club had been sitting in the bank since August.

"The money will have to be returned to the funders unless we get this off the ground soon," he said. "We've done everything we can think of. We've put up posters all round Chippenham in the Olympiad, the Bridge Centre and GP surgeries but we've had nothing.

"The children are crying out for a club and will be desperately disappointed if this doesn't come off."

He said Charlie has Rett's Syndrome, causing multiple disabilities, and the after-school club would present a wonderful opportunity for her to play with her friends.

"St Nicholas's takes children from all over Wiltshire Devizes, Swindon and Melksham so it's very difficult for them to socially interact," said Mr Kingaby, of Ashe Close. It would mean a lot to children like Charlie to have social time with her classmates."

Another parent, Diana Condon, said dozens of parents were supporting the proposal for an after-school group, and expected more than 30 children to use it regularly.

Mrs Condon's 16-year-old son, Elliot, who suffers from Cerebral Palsy and autism, was upset when he found out that the scheme may not take off.

"When I told him last night he just asked why," said Mrs Condon, of Slessor Road, Lyneham. "He felt it was very unfair and was genuinely disappointed.

"The club would be an ideal way for him to spend time with his peers outside of the school environment. Because we live quite a way from school Elliot misses out on that contact with his classmates. It's the only way he could get more social interaction with his peers.

"We've tried every possible avenue to find a leader but we seem to be coming up against a brick wall. We know there's somebody out there perfect for this job. The money is there and we've got volunteers willing to help but we just need that last bit."

Anyone interested in the job would need to have experience working with special needs children and an NVQ level three in playwork, although Mr Kingaby is happy to hear from anyone who thinks they may fit the bill. He can be contacted on 07732 782103.