GROUPS which use a Brislington community centre fear they will be left without a home after they were told the site is to close.

Wicklea is used by 15 different groups on a regular basis and is also attended by many other members of the Brislington community.

Youth clubs, fitness classes, computer lessons, after-school clubs, a church, lunch club and a weekly community cafe are among the regular events at the Wick Road centre.

But the various groups feel they may not find an alternative home in Brislington when the centre closes in September ready for work to start on a new school on the site.

As exclusively revealed in yesterday's Evening Post, Bristol City Council is planning to move St Anne's Junior School into new buildings on the site in 2013. The larger new building will make way for more school places in the area and the expansion of the infants into the junior school buildings left vacant by the move.

People who use the community groups found out they would need to move on earlier this month when a representative from the council's education department attended a neighbourhood forum meeting and explained the plans for the site.

Ali Hender, of Brislington Neighbourhood Centre, which has offices at Wicklea, said: "We understand the need for the new school, but what happens to the community groups?

"There is talk of the Big Society but this is just that, we are doing that. This is big society and what is happening is because we are running stuff for free, with volunteers, we don't have the funds to buy a building and we really need support."

She said the council had suggested the new school would have community space, but there are fears about the clubs which meet during the day and the fees organisations would be charged to use the space.

Theresa Driscoll, 63, of Watson Avenue, is one of the directors of Brislington Community Partnership, which was involved in setting up a lot of the projects run at Wicklea.

"It is very sad this community centre is closing down as all the others have been knocked down," she said. "My worry is that there will be a lot of lonely, isolated, deprived people as this centre helps with social integration and is vital for the wellbeing of the community."

Alan Bale, 79, of West Town Lane, who is also involved with the group said: "I cannot think of a specific space in this area for about 15 different organisations and I am rather pessimistic that there is anywhere that can take over from this centre.

"A lot have come from the community partnership and are going to have to close down. There are not any community centres for people in Brislington."

Pat Britton, 81, of Bloomfield Road, has run the lunch club at Wicklea for 27 years, since it opened.

"We get a lot of people who are housebound and pick them up and bring them here and they will really miss this place if it closes down," she said. "It is not really about the meal but the social event."

Olive Scully, 89, also of Bloomfield Road has been helping out with the lunch club since it started in the early 80s – and even remembers fundraising ahead of opening of Wicklea.

"I did two ten-mile runs to get funds to start this and I have been coming here ever since," she said.

"It is just a local community and there would be nothing whatsoever in this area if it closes."

The Wellspring Church meets at the centre every Sunday. The small church used to meet in the homes of its members but has been using Wicklea for more than 12 years.

Beryl Bond, 62, said that if the centre closes the church will probably have to return to meeting in houses.

"It is the only place we know of where we can meet up as a small church," she said.

"We feel that we are in the centre if the community here being on the main road with our banners there so people can see we are here. And if they want to they can come in on a Sunday and we welcome them in.

"We have been thinking about where we could move and haven't been able to come up with an alternative and will probably end up at somebody's house where people cannot just turn up in the same way."

Maurice King, 73, of Harrington Avenue Stockwood, has been teaching the Silver Surfers group at the centre for six years and thinks the only other possible locations for the group would be Knowle West or Barton Hill, rather than remaining in the Brislington area.

"It is about the social aspects as much as learning," he said.

"Some of the people who come here are widows or widowers and look forward to coming along.

"I haven't got a clue where else we could go. I am working with Bristol City Council to try and find facilities like this. But the only places I know of which are possible are possibly the Barton Hill Settlement or Knowle West Media Centre because we will need equipment."

Every week a group of people with special needs uses the community cafe and find it a friendly place to meet up.

Alan Williams, who oversees the group, said: "This is a great space that is wheelchair friendly, everything is here and it is a friendly place.

"Our group has grown since we have been coming here because the service users like it and people here know how to work with people with learning difficulties."

One of the young people who uses the youth club said in a letter about the centre: "The Government want us all to get out and get fit but they keep shutting the buildings we use. So all there is to do is stay in, in front of the X-box or hang around the streets."

Bristol City Council spokeswoman Katharine de Lisle told the Evening Post that the community groups were being consulted with about designs for the new school.

"The intention is for space to be designed flexibly to enable community use."

MP Kerry McCarthy (Lab, Bristol East), has been invited to discuss the future of the centre at a neighbourhood forum meeting next month.