AN EDUCATIONAL project, which has given over 400 Herefordshire people the chance to return to studying, may be forced to close because of a lack of funding

Rural Opportunities was set up in 2000 and helped develop and finance five study centres across the county.

Projects included a monthly computing and study skills clinic at Lingen, a major art and design programme for Teme Valley, and a youth project at Wigmore.

Rural Opportunities has also provided funding for the successful 'Film School' with the Rural Media Company, and has helped run aspiration raising art and design workshops in collaboration with Herefordshire College of Art and Design.

But for all its successes, Rural Opportunities' future is not guaranteed.

The project's funding runs out at the end of March and although the company has applied to the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Learning Skills Council and many other bodies for new finance, none has been found.