More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A pottery school for adults with learning disabilities is desperately searching for a new home, after being given six weeks notice to leave by its landlord.
Some members of Hadlow Pottery, based in Court Lane, have been attending since the school's inception in 2005, and do not know when they will next meet their friends and tutors.
Maggie Blanche, director and founder, was told the community interest company, which teaches 46 students and runs classes five days a week, would have to find somewhere else by North Kent College, who took over the running of Hadlow College, the previous landlord, this summer, after it entered educational administration.
Hadlow Pottery was not part of the college, but leased land from it.
Mrs Blanche, 64, said the students were "devastated" when she broke the news.
She went on: "They will lose their community. The definition of a community is people getting together for a shared purposed. That purpose will disappear."
The school runs an annual open day where pupils can display and sell their work, which boosts their confidence, Mrs Blanche said.
It also holds classes for the public during the college's yearly lambing event.
During lockdown, Mrs Blanche, concerned about whether the school could continue if funding, provided by Kent County Council, was cut, wrote to the Hadlow College to initiate her break clause, which was coming up in November.
If her funding was cut, she didn't want to be stuck paying the remainder of her two-and-a-half year tenancy, and so asked in May if she could switch to a monthly contract, but explained she had every intention of remaining open.
She heard nothing until she received a letter last month from solicitors acting on behalf of North Kent College, saying these new terms were not acceptable and she would have to leave by November 1.
She appealed for an extension but says she was told it was her fault for initiating the break clause and then didn't hear anything further.
Mrs Blanche said: "They are fully in their right to do this, but what's cruel is that we have just been given six weeks and we have got kilns on the site to move and it's difficult in the the pandemic to find somewhere and to get things up and running."
She has spoken to some charities about housing the school but currently they are unable to help.
For now, Mrs Blanche and her team will resume the Zoom sessions they ran during lockdown and are sending out arts and crafts kits to students.
A spokesperson for North Kent College said: "The tenure of Hadlow Pottery was an issue that arose before North Kent College’s acquisition of elements of Hadlow College and discussions with Hadlow Pottery remain ongoing."
