FRESH management is wanted for a Burnley community centre - after long-standing volunteers confirmed they were quitting due to stress.

Former councillor Karen Heseltine, who had been involved with running Burnley Wood Community Centre for eight-and-a-half years, had previously announced she was stepping down.

And the last charity board minutes for the community centre has recorded that her colleague Margaret Unsworth, who has run a popular Christmas pensioners’ party there, is also leaving.

She is even bringing forward her popular festive gathering to tonight, before the charity responsible for the building officially withdraws.

Mrs Heseltine said: “I’ve brought in nearly £200,000 for the community centre but the stress has become too much.”

And she has expressed her disappointment at repeated criticisms of volunteers who she says have kept the Terracefields building, in Springfield Road, afloat.

Council bosses have now appealed for anyone willing to take over the running of the community centre, which it owns, to come forward.

Cllr Cosima Towneley, the council’s community services executive member, said: “This is a unique opportunity for someone wanting to make their mark in a community which has seen much change in the last few years.

“We would like to thank the retiring trustees for their hard work over many years which has made a difference to many families in the area.

“Looking to the future, we look forward to hearing from someone with the drive, enthusiasm and practical skills to build on the work already undertaken but who will also bring their own imaginative brand of collaboration and consolidation to keep this building where it should be, in the heart of the Burnley Wood community.”

Cllr Jeff Sumner, who represents Rosehill with Burnley Wood ward, added: “We want this to be a success for the people of Burnley Wood, especially young families and pensioners.”

He confirmed that the council had provided £3,000 in community funding and ward members had given £2,000 from their ward opportunity pots to meet obligations to the charity and ensure the new tenants would have facilities to make a fresh start.

Expressions of interest must be submitted to council official Andrew Leah - via e-mail at aleah@burnley.gov.uk - by October 4.

The community centre became a hub for the estate after the demolition of the former neighbourhood base in Glebe Street, as part of housing regeneration works.