A community centre in Letchworth has launched a fundraising appeal to help carry out urgent repairs to its roof.

Jackmans Community Centre needs to carry out the repairs to continuing providing a valuable space for the people of Jackmans Estate.

"It’s the original roof from when the building was first built, and throughout the years it’s been patched up, but things have now gotten quite bad," committee member Claire Smith told The Comet.

"We have the responsibility of taking care of the roof, and because we are such a small charity, it’s beyond our scope.

"We’ve got plenty of people wanting to help us through fundraisers, we’ve got the GoFundMe page and some other bits in the pipeline. The support from the public has been great."

Explaining more about the work done at Jackmans Community Centre, Claire continued: "We have spaces that we rent out to local groups for minimal cost, and that’s everything from dementia groups and substance abuse to children’s group and healthy living.

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"We are working with settle and the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation at the moment to set up a social supermarket. We have our community café here and we operate as a warm hub in the winter.

"We are doing as much as we can for the community."

Jackmans Community Centre was built in 1970, and has stood as a key asset for the community for more than 50 years.

Claire hopes that the repairs will allow their work to continue for another half century, adding: "It would mean a huge amount to get the roof fixed.

"The people on the committee grew up on this estate, they have children and grandchildren here, and we want the community centre to be here for them in years to come. It’s a safe space for people.

"This community centre has stood since 1970, and want it to be here for the next 50 years and many more to come."

To donate to the fundraiser, visit www.gofundme.com/f/k5mvxz-roof-repair.