A community centre providing free education on a council estate is in danger of closing as its money runs out.

The Bridge, in Lucraft Road, Brighton, cannot afford to keep going unless it finds funding from next March.

The centre, which helps up to 750 people a term with free or cheap courses in the deprived Moulsecoomb area of Brighton, is currently funded by eb4U, the Government New Deal project for East Brighton.

But its managers are in a race to find alternative pots of money when it runs out.

Manager Jill O'Brien said: "Historically people don't tend to travel out of this area to seek out education in places like City College Brighton and Hove.

"It would be a shame if a centre like this was to close. We have a lot of people coming in and up to 50 courses per term. That's quite a lot of people who would be missing out on educational opportunities but at the moment there isn't a lot of funding out there."

The centre runs courses on everything from accredited accountancy courses to Spanish lessons or recycled fashion classes.

A teenage counselling service, Mac's Place, also uses the building and the centre provides a creche for 50p per child.

Melissa Wright from Bevendean has used the centre to gain literacy, numeracy, computer and child development skills to retrain for a new career.

She said: "I wanted to move on and not do washing up for the rest of my life. I wanted something a bit more challenging and I've taken full advantage of The Bridge. It's just fantastic."

Janis Bridle from Moulsecoomb runs relaxation and stress management courses.

She said: "In the estate there were a lot of people with these sorts of issues, like anxiety, stress, depression and general confidence problems. There have been so many success stories here."

The Bridge received funding for nine years, totalling £1.8 million, but the entire eb4U scheme, which has funded nearly 300 projects, comes to an end in 2010.

Sean Hambrook, chief executive of eb4U, said they had been working with many projects to find alternative funding for them.

He said: "We've been doing it for 18 months and it's a really key focus of our efforts next year.

"The Bridge has been a fantastic project, they've done some amazing things and we've been working hard with them to put together applications and get a strategy to raise money from elsewhere.

"We've given them another £7,500 for fundraising and you can never be absolutely certain they will find the money but they're working extremely hard to make it pay off."

He said some projects funded by eb4U became self-sustaining social enterprises while others were "mainstreamed", when a public body such as the primary care trust or council takes the project on itself, as with stop smoking nurses and language therapists for childrens' centres.

To see a video report about the centre, click here.

Do you use The Bridge? What have your experiences been of taking courses at the centre? Leave your comments below.