THE man who runs a popular Tees Valley charity has told of the struggle to keep the service open during the economic downturn.

Matt Simpson, chief executive of Daisy Chain, which provides support for autistic children and their families, revealed a year ago that its income had fallen by 28 per cent - mainly due to a fall in public donations and council support.

He said that since then, the charity, based in Norton, near Stockton, has held ten times the number of fund-raising events and activities and has managed to  marginally improve its finacial situation.

However, the Daisy Chain has also experienced a massive increase in demand over recent years and some families have not been able to access services.

A year ago the charity raised £560,000 - down from £800,000 12 months earlier.

This time that figure has increased to around the £600,000, but at the same time the demand for the service has risen sixfold in recent years.

Mr Simpson said: “It’s been a very tough year, I would say we’ve literally put on ten times the number of events.

"The situation is not brilliant, but we’re there, we’re keeping going. I would say we’re still doing about 65 to 70 per cent of what we really need to do.

“It’s the same for a lot of extremely good and useful charities and you hear people saying, ‘we need to cut back.’ We always say, ‘we’ll just work harder.’

“There was a report recently that said up to 50 per cent of charities wouldn’t exist in the coming years, but we’re determined, through sheer hard work, not be one of them.

"We have a great public and great support and the good news is last month was our best in ages. We just have to hope the economic situation really is improving.”

Mr Simpson said that Stockton Borough Council would have been paying the charity about £100,000 a few years ago for services provided, but he said that the same level of support is simply no longer there.

Daisy Chain provides the only dedicated centre for autistic children in the UK. It opened in 2003 and was the vision of Lesley Hanson, who died in 2004, aged 35, and her husband, Duane. Their son, Jacob, was diagnosed with autism from a young age.