The small charity is run by parent volunteers out of the Jubilee Gardens community health centre in Droylsden, a building shared with other support groups and the council’s Children with Disabilities team.
Elaine Healey, from the charity, told Radio Manchester that other council staff in the health centre had been asked to clear their desks in August in preparation to leave the site – a move which never materialised.
She said when she asked Tameside Council whether OKE would also have to vacate the hub, Ms Healey said she received no response.
It led OKE staff to make the difficult decision to cancel their winter events due to the lack of certainty over their own office, which they needed to oversee the major planning required to put on the Christmas party.
The party cancellations have caused “great upset” among parents, but the charity said it had no choice as there was “no certainty on whether we’re going to be here tomorrow, next week, or next year, we can’t plan ahead.”
Ms Hannah said her son Anton, now 11, had been going to the “godsend” event since he was three.
“He’s able to be part of something in an environment where he feels welcome, he can meets Father Christmas, and do disco dancing with no judgement”, she said.
The single parent from Audenshaw said the event was “part of our Christmas”, adding she and her son “can’t go to other places” as they are not suitable for his needs.
She said Anton, who has autism, was crestfallen when she had to tell him it was not going ahead this year.
“I said I’ll try and find something else , but I don’t know what we can actually do, we feel alienated elsewhere, excluded,” she added.
