A TABLE tennis club's head coach said he is "disappointed" a council funding scheme is no longer available.

The 3E’s Club, based in Boundary Hall, Edmonton, is set to close down after 13 years with a final tournament tonight (Monday, April 25) due to a lack of financial support and volunteers to run the club.

Steve Codrington, who has run 3E’s for the past five years, said they survived on the £5,000 Enfield Residents Priority Fund grant from Enfield Council given to the club between 2013 and 2015.

However, this scheme was closed last year due to budget cuts.

Council bosses have said they will try to help out 3Es, who have not applied for other funding with the authority.

But Mr Codrington, who lives in Chingford, said it was a shame the scheme was cut and not more assistance is on offer.

The 57-year-old said: “All of our volunteers have dropped off, I have been running it on my own; this is something that needed to happen as no-one else could take over the reins.

“It is very sad, after all the effort we have put in, I am disappointed.

“When I was young, the local authorities funded youth clubs, so there was always somewhere you could go, nobody was left on the streets.

“Now they have all gone, and young people have nowhere to go unless they pay for it.

“I know they have to make cuts and savings, but it is disappointing they are taking facilities away. I feel let down.”

The club will be holding their internal championship on Monday, April 25, starting at 7pm, likely to be the last day before the club closes down.

The 3E’s Table Tennis Club was formed in 2003 to tackle the lack of after-school activity available to the young people in Edmonton.

Mr Codrington said the aim was to engage youths aged six to 18 to participate in table tennis on a regular basis, steering them away from crime and anti-social behaviour.

Players were not charged a membership fee and the club ran three days a week.

Some of the players went onto compete at county level and the club was successful in the North Middlesex Table Tennis League, winning the Premier League three years in a row from 2014 to 2016.

Cllr Nneka Keazor, cabinet member for public health and sport, said the club successfully bid for funding worth around £9,100 between 2013 and 2015.

She also said the authority would be speaking to the club in a bid to help them stay open.

She said: “When the £1.5 million fund was discontinued in 2014/15 to help the council balance its books in the teeth of significant government spending cuts, funding for the table tennis club ceased, the club did not receive any other funding from any other Enfield Council budget and as far as we can ascertain the club did not contact the council for assistance. 

“There is no doubt that the 3Es table tennis club is an enormous asset to the area and its young people and we are naturally concerned that the club is on the brink of closing its doors for good. 

“In an attempt to prevent this from happening we will be contacting the club as a matter of urgency to give them advice and guidance about what grant funding is available to them and also advising them on some of the ways they can maximise their income and balance their books more effectively in an attempt to retain this popular resource in our borough."