A DRUMCHAPEL charity which was facing closure after it was refused funding from Glasgow City Council has been saved for the next two-and-a-half years.

The G15 Youth Council has been fighting for survival for months after significant changes were made to the way the city’s ruling administration gave funding support to community groups.

Even the success of the “reverse trick or treat” event featured in the Post, when the group organised a Hallowe’en event to support more than 150 children in Drumchapel, wasn’t enough to stave off fears that the project might not survive until Christmas.

However, the charity has now secured 28 months’ funding support from the National Lottery’s Young Start Fund.

The financial help includes a total of £100,000 in revenue funding over the next two-and-a-half years.

G15 chairman Jordan Riley said: “This is the best news I have heard this year. I am delighted for all our members and thank the staff for their support in order for us to save this service.

“Thank you to the Big Lottery Young Start Fund for believing in our programme.”

As previously reported by Post, the project has been improving the lives of Drumchapel’s young people since 1997 through a range of activities – from fun events like paintballing, go-karting, sailing trips and activities in the Bluebell Woods, to life skills and community work such as helping with job interviews and arranging accommodation for the homeless.

Its work saw the initiative win the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2011.

The project was among 134 charities which were unsuccessful in their application to GCC’s Community Fund earlier this year, with council officials saying the fund was “heavily over-subscribed”.

The lottery funding will help secure the delivery of the project’s new SHAPE initiative - a 12-week rolling programme aimed at supporting young people’s physical and emotional wellbeing.

Drumchapel Labour councillor Paul Carey said: “I am absolutely delighted that G15 has secured funding from the National Lottery Youth Start Fund.

“This will allow G15 to stay in operation for at least the next two-and-a-half years.

“I hope that this administration, which cut the funding from this organisation by 62 per cent with no just cause, meaning that they would have been closed by Christmas – leaving Drumchapel without an organisation to deliver youth provision - hang their heads in shame.”