Telford mayor Karen Blundell cuts the cake to celebrate Meeting Point House's 21st birthday, accompanied by trust chairman the Reverend David Lavender, centre,, and trust manager Bob Gleave.

Charities are playing an increasingly important role in the recession, with a growing number of people seeking help or becoming volunteers, a Telford community worker claimed.

And he said Meeting Point House, which is celebrating 21 years in Telford Town Centre, is busier than ever.

John Fowler, of Age Concern, was commenting at the birthday celebrations of the building – a nerve centre for a vast range of community groups.

It was opened in 1988 in a funding partnership between Telford Development Corporation, local churches and Wrekin District Council.

It now serves as a home for some 100 people working for various charities, the Chapel of Christ the King and the Meeting Point Coffee Shop.

Meeting rooms provide accommodation for up to 120 people and have been newly upgraded with multi-media projectors and sound systems, free wireless internet and air conditioning.

The complex could eventually be demolished and rebuilt as part of Telford & Wrekin Council’s proposed £250 million transformation of Southwater Square into a cultural hub for the town centre.

Mr Fowler, a former employee of Age Concern, said: “Voluntary organisations become even more important in a recession.”

Bridie Croucher, who has worked for the Catholic Children’s Society at the centre since it opened, said: “It has a nice atmosphere and is ideally placed as a one-stop shop for all charities in the heart of the town centre.”

The Venerable Dr Colin Hill, the original chairman of the Meeting Point House Trust, a registered charity which runs the building, said: “The principle of Meeting Point House is to remind the folk . . . we are more than simply a sum of our shopping. This is a living part of the town centre – somewhere open when other places are not.”

Councillor Karen Blundell, Telford & Wrekin mayor, cut the birthday cake in front of more than 90 guests.

By Peter Johnson