A VITAL training service helping people back to work could yet be saved, following plans to axe it.

Efforts are being made to retain IT computer training and the Friday work club at the Ockment Centre, both of which are currently run by Westward Pathfinder.

Westward Pathfinder last month announced that all Learndirect Training offered at the Ockment Centre would be withdrawn at the end of August, following severe government spending cuts.

The charity currently rents the computer suite in the Ockment Centre to deliver a range of courses designed to help people with their employment prospects.

It has been confirmed that open access IT training and Skills for Life, teaching people workplace skills and English and maths to GCSE level 2, have definitely been scrapped.

However, there is hope for grouped IT computer training and the Friday work club, which helps people get back into work.

The club helps people write CVs, search and apply for jobs online, and rebuilds confidence through improving interview and telephone techniques, socialising and moral support.

To ensure that the IT training at the centre can continue, manager Geoff Mills must find ten participants each month to take part in a month-long course, running 15 hours a week each Tuesday to Thursday. If the monthly number drops below ten, the service will be axed.

The work club, which was key in helping people find work after the closures of Polestar and Robert Wiseman Dairies, could also continue under a different guise.

Manager Geoff Mills has teamed up with staff at the Ockment Centre to try and secure funding from Okehampton United Charity to fund the club for the next six months.

The centre is applying to the charity for vital funding to keep the centre going, much like it did in 2011. The funding for the work club has gone in as a secondary part of this application.

Mr Mills said: 'I have had a terrific response from the people of Okehampton regarding the closure of this place.

'I believe the people doing a petition to keep it open have got around 2,000 signatures.

'But I need those people to come forward and use the service. I understand a lot of them are past students and I can't offer them anything at the moment. But there is strong feeling about it and the work club, which we are hoping to run.

'It's not a no-hoper at the moment — we need to get it across to people that there is a possibility we can save the service, but this is the only way and it needs support.

'Understandably, people using the job club have been pretty uptight and pretty upset about it. There are certain people who come in and want to do a job search. Once you show them the site they can use the computer.

'There are other people who need their CVs writing for them, or need their online applications done for them. I have one guy here who is profoundly deaf. You have to sit with him, simple as that.

'It is time-consuming, but to me it is those people who you are meant to be helping. The ones who need help filling out application forms, or perhaps need help doing an online application.

'The job club is for the town. If it goes, I don't know what will happen to the town or people who use it.'

Ockment Centre manager Lindsey Svensson said: 'Much like last year, we are applying to Okehampton United Charity for core revenue funding to keep the centre to help run the centre, and incorporated a further sum into the application to keep the job club running.

'Things are okay at the centre, but without revenue support, we will struggle. With the price of electricity, heating and utilities always rising, it is difficult for any business.'

Staff at the Ockment Centre were scheduled to meet OUC representatives yesterday (Wednesday) to discuss the funding application.