PENSIONERS are celebrating being able to continue with exercise and yoga classes after being thrown a funding lifeline.

The Asian Elders Resource Centre, which had its budget slashed by £33,500 because of council cuts, has now been given a £20,000 grant.

And as well as continuing with the raft of activities already on offer, staff now plan to expand services.

Shabeen Rehman, centre manager, said: “It is quite electric. We are buzzing.

Everybody here is really keen and everybody is wanting to work to make a change.

“Receiving the money is a very good feeling.”

The centre, based in Northfield Street, Deane, has been told it will now receive the money after applying for a payout from the Government’s Transition Fund in January.

It will now develop a befriending service, with staff and volunteers to be trained to help elderly people when they are on their own at weekends and in the evening and would like some company. Shabeen said: “We applied for funding because we wanted to make a change.

“Social care is changing from us getting money from the local authority to us now getting grants.

“We have to change the way we run our services.”

The money will be used to train nine staff and three volunteers to deliver courses, which are currently given by people outside the organisation.

Staff plan to apply for more grants to continue the service.

Asian Elders’ Resource Centre — formed in 1989 — has up to 600 people on its books and supports about 70 people each day.

It offers a variety of activities for pensioners, including exercise classes, crafts and English lessons.