A COMMUNITY group needs just another £1,000 to help save its 100-year-old building from falling apart.

The Cowley Club, in London Road, Brighton, runs a vegan food bank and other free services including English lessons for migrants.

Being a not-for-profit organisation, volunteers at the club are raising money to fund the refurbishment.

Once repaired, they hope to create a permanent memorial of their late member Anna Campbell, from Lewes, who died fighting with the Kurdish Women’s Protection Unit in Syria in December last year.

Daniel Tidey, a volunteer and co-ordinator at the club, said: “It’s difficult to get the support when we are all volunteers but we have had such a good response so far.

“We are trying to get money to make sure the Cowley Club can stay open and keep doing the essential work that it’s doing for people.

“It’s not easy just finding money, especially when all the members are just volunteers, but we have had really kind people who have given their support so far.

“Someone donated £1,000. We tried to find out who it was but they preferred to remain anonymous.

“We have had a lot of Brightonians donating but also people from all around the world including France, USA and Spain.”

A mural has already been painted in memory of Ms Campbell, but members of the Brighton Kurdistan Solidarity, a community group, and the club’s volunteers want to enshrine her on the main outside wall facing London Road.

They hope to raise the funds for this second mural so more people can remember her.

Daniel said: “We will have to close while we are refurbishing but we normally do in August.

“Our vegan food bank will still be running but those having English classes can all have a holiday.

“The repairs will sort the crumbling plaster and cracked chimneys and any other touch ups that need doing. It will be good because a lot of people enjoy coming here.”

The Cowley Club target is to raise £11,700. It has so far reached just shy of £10,400.

A spokeswoman from the Brighton Kurdistan Solidarity group said: “The Cowley Club provides an important space for many different groups and community organisations.

“Brighton Kurdistan Solidarity is glad to stand with and support the Cowley Club, and to help create a mural for Anna Campbell, a former volunteer of the Cowley Club, who fell defending the Afrin district from Turkish invasion.”