'Vital' charity told to close down

Leaders of a vital community charity on the Britwell estate have been told it must close down to make way for the multi-million pound regeneration project.

Norma Palmer, project manager of the Slough Furniture Project (Homemakers) in Wentworth Avenue, said today that she and her three-strong team of 16 volunteers were ‘gobsmacked' and 'devastated by the news’.

The project, whose supporters donate furniture, clothing and bric-a-brac to needy families and pensioners, was established in 1994 in a garage and moved to its present site in 1999.

Mrs Palmer and her colleagues are appealing to Slough MP Fiona Mactaggart, who is their patron.

Volunteer Donna Marks said: “We were only informed last week by the council and have had no time to do any fundraising.”

Deputy mayor Chrissy Small, the borough’s Older Peoples Champion, said: “It would be a shame if we lost this precious service for Slough.

“It is not just a Britwell project. The council has been paying them £20,000 a year but we are in the days of self-funding. I hope we can find alternative premises.”