Woodwork classes at special workshops are to close - despite several offers of financial help from benefactors.

Campaigners made an impassioned plea to keep the DIAL woodwork sessions at Dockfield Road, Shipley, but the management committee has decided they are no longer an option.

DIAL director Peter Clarke said: "Despite some very generous offers of financial support for the woodwork workshop, the core funding situation remains very uncertain.

"We realise it is a disappointment to those people who were hoping it would re-open."

But Mr Clarke said there were a variety of reasons why the classes for disabled people could not restart.

As well as funding, health and safety concerns were cited.

"DIAL's management committee believes specialised skills are required to safely manage a woodwork project and DIAL's expertise lies in information and advice provision," he said.

Mr Clarke said that a specially trained supervisor would be needed and there were problems with dust extraction.

He said: "The equipment we had was very old and basically we thought it was time to move on. The woodwork classes ran successfully for 16 years but we feel they have come to the end of their natural life."

Thackley man Andrew Bradley, who has Down's Syndrome, has suffered since the classes closed, according to his father. Last week the Telegraph & Argus reported the 44-year-old had been depressed since the daily workshops stopped.

Mr Clarke said: "We have been able to relocate the majority of people who attended the woodwork classes here to the Cathedral Centre in Bradford."

Mr Clarke said that it was not the end of DIAL.

"We are exploring the possibility of converting the woodwork area to an 'independent living' facility where disabled people can go and try out aids, equipment and adaptations which would help them in their daily lives," he said.