A day centre for people with learning and physical disabilities closed its doors today.

Service users of the Maidstone Resource Centre in Tovil, some of which have been meeting up every week for around 10 years, have been forced to find a new place to meet up and socialise.

The members have had to separate and will now be going to different groups across the county.

Despite becoming close friends, some of them fear they will never see each other again due to travel and access restrictions.

Service user Stuart Mitchell, 48, from Snodland, said: "We have been together a long time. We are like a big family and made a lot of friends. I am quite sad, it has been difficult for us and upsetting."

Fellow member Shelley Bird, 35, from Bearsted, known as the joker of the group, said: "Without this I would just be bored in the house doing nothing. I will miss everyone."

At the sessions, in Tovil Green Lane, they were given the opportunity to join in group activities such as bingo, arts and crafts and outings to the cinema.

The members were told it would be closing when representatives from Leonard Cheshire, the company that runs the group, visited them to deliver the bad news.

When KentOnline spoke to Claire Hedger, who has Friedreich’s ataxia, a neurological disorder which affects coordination, balance and speech, she said she was struggling to cope with the fact it was shutting down: "I am just so down at the moment. I want to give up living, there is no point now.”

Speaking at the last session today, where members were tucking in to some biscuits and joining in some craft activities, the 43-year-old said: "I am feeling more positive, they have changed my medication after I went to the doctors and broke down. I told them I wished I was dead.

"I have nowhere to go now, I’m just going to sit and stare at the same four walls in my house.

"But I'm not giving up now, there is a point to life and I am going to keep going."

Since the closure announcement, the group has been looking for other places to go. Leonard Cheshire has another site in Chipstead Lake, Sevenoaks, but many service users say they cannot make the 30-mile round trip.

Steve Robinson, whose wife, Caroline Riley, attends the group, said: “These guys have become a family to us and it is heartbreaking for me to watch them all be split up.”

A spokeswoman for Leonard Cheshire said: “People who used the service will be able to go to another day centre locally. We worked with the local authority to identify alternative services of similar quality that everyone appears very happy with.”

When the closure was announced, the organisation said the service was being shut down due to a lack of demand.

This isn't the first time it has been threatened with closure.

In 2015, when it was housed at the Royal British Legion Village’s Churchill Centre in Aylesford, Leonard Cheshire Disability said it couldn't afford the rent for the building.

After putting out a plea to find a new venue, the centre found its new home in Tovil.

Read more: All the latest news from Maidstone