CHILDREN claim they have got to give up their weekly games club after being driven out of New Images Youth Centre.

Members of the Warhammer Club say they have been told they can no longer use the centre, in Nixon Drive, Winsford, for their meetings.

The club has run from New Images at a nominal fee for years and many of the youngsters who attend have become so engrossed in the fantasy board game they spend all their pocket money on figures.

But when Cheshire County Council has completed the proposed transfer of the building to Verdin High School, they say the club will be forced to close.

Alan Halpin, whose son Thomas, 15, attends the club with his pal James Platt, 14, said: 'The group has been going for years and the children get really involved in it.

'It is a good club and it gives them something constructive to do and keeps them off the streets.

'There is nowhere else they can go which they will be able to afford and it's such a shame.'

Protestors fighting the transfer of New Images to Verdin High School have threatened the county council with legal action. They believe it disobeyed its own youth charter by not consulting properly with youths and user groups and have written to the ombudsman to complain.

A Cheshire County Council spokes-woman said: 'We can't comment specifically because of the threat of legal action. However, the county council continues to give absolute commitment that youth work will run at or above existing levels, and the school has told the Warhammer Club that if room couldn't be found at New Images then a room would be found at the school.'

But Mr Halpin said: 'It is going to cost a lot of money to open up the school for the club because they would have to pay the caretaker to open it and for lighting. I can't see that happening.'