A north-east circus troupe has been forced to shut down its programmes in two communities after funding dried up.
Theatre Modo ran popular circus workshops in Fraserburgh and Mintlaw, but will now only operate out of Peterhead because of money concerns.
The charity needs about £10,000 to run each programme it offers, and relies entirely on grant funding.
Parents were informed by organisers yesterday that it was with a “heavy heart” events in Mintlaw and Fraserburgh would be pulled this Christmas.
But last night, Modo’s creative director, Martin Danziger, said the group was actively look for benefactors to be able to reintroduce the workshops as soon as possible.
He said: “We’ve been running these weekly programmes since 2014 when we got the money from the Lottery.
“We perhaps naively thought that a programme that was over-subscribed and managing to accredit hundreds of young people a year would attract lots more funding – but that has proved incredibly difficult.”
Staff at Modo have had to work for free to provide after-school events for youngsters in Mintlaw and Fraserburgh.
Recently they took part in Peterhead’s Christmas lights switch on, where youngsters performed fire tricks.
Mr Danziger said the last thing he wanted to do was charge parents for the sessions.
“At some point the financial crisis will settle down where we are able to run them again,” he said.
“But as we all know in the third sector at the moment, it is incredibly hard to raise funds for anything.
“We are really committed to providing it for free, so we can’t go down the route of simply charging for it. We feel we would miss the people who really need these activities.
“The programmes have provided real benefits to young people, and we’ve seen them grow in skills and confidence to give back to the community.”
Mr Danziger has called for anyone with ideas to raise funds to contact Theatre Modo.
Theatre Modo received a grant from the Big Lottery Fund in 2014 of £50,000 which allowed them to expand their work.