The recent closure of Monday Club is a devastating blow for Camber on many levels. The immediate impact, of course, is on the staff who lost their jobs, the parents who have lost a vital childcare facility, and the young children who enjoyed the afterschool fun in a safe environment.
It is known – and well documented – that childhood plays a pivotal role in the long-term learning, development and life chances of every person. Rural clubs such as this much valued afterschool facility are closing down at an alarming rate across the country. Camber’s Monday Club is, it seems, just another statistic in that grim trend.
Often, these types of provision are forced to close due to lack of qualified staff. Monday Club, however, had staff who were qualified, talented and dedicated. What they didn’t have was enough children. Due to the minimum staffing levels, there is a ‘break even’ point in terms of subscriptions (ie – the number of children in attendance) that is needed in order for the setting to be viable. It appears that Camber is lacking in young families!
There has been an acute shortage of available housing in the village for some time. Without even considering the rising cost of renting, and the stringent demands of mortgage lenders – making homebuying incredibly difficult, if not impossible, for young families – there simply is not much available housing here! The problem has been escalating over the last couple of decades, with a large proportion of homes in Camber becoming second homes or holiday letting businesses.
So often, around the village, one hears tales of frustration when a rental property becomes available and the interested party exclaims that it had been snapped up by the time they contacted the letting agent. Many young families are forced to leave the village to go in search of somewhere to live. Rye has only slightly more available homes on offer. Often families end up moving as far away as Hastings or Ashford. The knock-on effect of this result in changes to our local realm, including the loss of vital facilities – such as our playgroup back in 2022, and now our afterschool club.
Monday Club has been in Camber for decades, evolving and changing along the way… but it has always been there. Nobody is exactly sure when it first began – but my own children went there, and they are now in their 30s, so it has been around for a good long while!
The staff, committee members and willing volunteers worked tirelessly, over all of these years, fundraising to keep the facility in the village. Residents have given generously to the cause – but this was always on the back of a healthy cohort of youngsters trundling through the doors each week. This year, that number has dwindled to the point where the club in no longer viable.
The loss of Monday Club is one more facility that we now don’t have here, on our doorsteps. Remember when there were Rainbows and Brownies? The youth club? Film club? Craft sessions at the Memorial Hall? Extend exercise club? A choir? Playgroup? Bowls? Country & Western? Nifty Fifties? The 5-A-Side football team? We only just about have a doctor service, one day a fortnight, after almost losing it altogether! The list goes on and on…
All this at a time when the government is making a show about getting young people away from phone and tablet screens. Monday Club provided a much-needed respite for exhausted parents and an educational environment for youngsters to let off steam while learning through play and socialising with their friends.
As the cost of living rises and the country teeters on the edge of a devastating recession, one wonders why the government has not stepped in to rescue these vital facilities, particularly in rural areas. Once lost, the chance of resurrecting these provisions is close to zero. The sheer cost of setting up a new afterschool club from scratch in the future means we will probably never see such a facility here again.
Countless children have attended Monday Club – excited to be there and enjoying every minute. It is certain that hundreds and hundreds of Camber’s kids will have fond memories of happy times there, as will some parents for whom it was a chance to catch up with other parents when dropping off or picking up their offspring. (For others, the noise level in the hall was so loud at the club’s busiest times, they couldn’t wait to get away home for a couple of hours of peace and quiet!)
Sam, who has been at the helm for over two decades, told us that closing Monday Club was one of the hardest decisions she has had to make. Sam would like to extend her heartfelt thanks to everyone who has ever helped out and supported the club over those many years – there are literally too many of you to mention by name!
Here at the newsletter, we say farewell to Monday Club with a heavy heart. We tip our hats to Sam and her team for the hard work they have put in over the years, and mourn yet another blow to village life.
