A long-running community centre on the brink of closure has been saved after it received thousands of pounds in donations.
Businesses and locals joined forces to rescue the Phoenix Centre after it called an emergency meeting last September when charity leaders revealed it was “weeks away” from collapse.
The Mile Cross site has raised £20,000 in donations, enabling it to continue providing services to help those living in the area.
Along with people donating through a JustGiving page, the centre received funds from a number of organisations including Norwich Consolidated Charities, RC Snelling and Mattress Man.
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Chrissie Rumsby, chairwoman of the Phoenix Centre charity and local county councillor, said: "We now have a future - it's a new chapter for us.
"The money we received stopped us from having to close, buy a bit of time to get things together - we're now on the up and up.
"There was a crisis because of the cost-of-living crisis but we can now balance our finances and after going through the process of becoming a community incorporated organisation (CIO) it's easier to get more money through fundraising.
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"We're going to be having more events which benefit the community and continue to deliver services such as the cafe, fitness programmes and providing cheap meals for people.
"Whatever the community needs we try and deliver it and during the next few months we'll be driving forward with a new financial plan."
The centre has bounced back from disaster before, as a December 2012 fire caused £60,000 of damage, which two schoolboys were later found guilty of starting as a 'schoolboy prank' brought serious consequences.
Ms Rumsby added: "All I could think about when we were close to closing was how it would affect the people who use it.
"It takes up a lot of time for the people here and it means so much to the people it helps, so we had to save it."
History of the Phoenix Centre
A campaign for youth facilities that started in 1985 proved successful, leading to a group of local parents opening the Phoenix Centre in Peterson Road three years later.
However, in 1998 the centre was among a raft of community centres facing a cut in funding from the county council.
That year, the Mile Cross Phoenix Children's Project was formed and an agreement was reached for the centre to be handed over to community leaders.
The handover took place in March 1999 and the project became a registered charity in the same year.
After becoming established a nine-year campaign to move out of mobile buildings and into the former baptist church in Mile Cross Road was completed.
The former St Marys Sunday School rooms were bought and refurbished with £500,000 in funding as the Phoenix Centre moved to a permanent position in the heart of Mile Cross.
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