Oswestry Alert: Storage space plea by furniture scheme

Alert is run by Chalk, a community interest company, in Oswestry from its shop in Leg Street.

So far the scheme has helped 25 families in and around the town. It has been running for five months and receives about three requests for help a week.

But it was today announced that all the furniture for Alert is currently stored at an empty building which will be unavailable from April 1.

Gemma Cassin, from Chalk, has today appealed for help to find a new base to store large items such as beds, sofas and wardrobes.

It comes after a charity that has operated in Telford for 25 years by recycling furniture announced it was set to cease trading.

Chairs and Spares, which had stores in Donnington and Meeting Point House, will close at the end of March, with six members of staff set to lose their jobs.

Ms Cassin, of Chalk, said: "Bowen Son & Watson have been very kind and let us use one of their empty buildings until they found someone to take over the property. They have someone who is taking the building over on April 1 and therefore we need a new home for the project.

"We think Shropshire Council may be able to help us, but if they do it will only be a temporary thing. What we're really looking for is someone who's got a building that's not used that we can use to store furniture in long-term.

"We're quite happy to pay for bills, and because we're a community interest company we get discretionary rates, but we don't have any money to pay for rental."

She said of their clients: "We never ask any questions. The majority of the time they're asking for something like a bed and they don't have anything else, so we would deliver the bed and then see the home and think, well you need curtains and a wardrobe and a sofa and so on, so we end up providing the whole house.

"There was one guy we helped who had been in the forces and all he had was a sleeping bag.

"We'll take donations of whatever we can, whether that's individual items or house clearances. The Lion Quays recently had a refurbishment and gave us 38 dining chairs and coffee tables, which was fantastic."

Miss Cassin said aside from the new depot, what was most urgently needed was a van.

"We use one of our volunteers' cars or hire a van at the moment," she said. "Yesterday an amazing women walked into our shop and donated £500 for the van. We now have a great start to our van fund.

"More volunteers to help with driving and deliveries would be very helpful as well."

l To help or for more information call Chalk on (01691) 655895.