A CENTRE for absent parents to meet their children is now well established in High Wycombe after receiving vital support from the community.

The child contact centre, based at the Union Baptist Church, Easton Street, was set up 18 months ago to provide a friendly, neutral place for parents no longer living with their children to meet them on a regular basis.

Organisers Sue and Mick Horswell, who are members of the Baptist Church, said the number of people who used the centre showed there was a need for such a place.

Mr Horswell said: "We now are regularly having 20 people coming into the centre."

The centre is one of a network of around 300 centres across the UK which allow parents, mainly fathers, to have somewhere to take their children.

The original impetus came from the Court Welfare Service.

Mr Horswell said: "The centre provides a neutral place so that the parents in a relationship which has broken up can have contact with their children without having to spend all of the time in McDonald's or the park."

The centre is open on the second and fourth Saturday of each month from 10am to 2pm at present.

Volunteers are used to make sure the centre runs smoothly and grants have also been given by charities as well as from Children in Need and the National Lottery.

Local firms have also helped out by donating toys or money to help keep the operation going but the centre, a registered charity, is always in need of money.

For more information ring Sue Horswell on 01494 440685