History
The Newbury Community Resource Centre Ltd (NCRC) is a registered charity (No. 1082243) and a company limited by guarantee (No. 399851) and has three working names – The Community Furniture Project (Newbury), The Community Furniture Project (Basingstoke) and the Community Re-Use Centre. All three projects having a proven track record in recycling good quality second-hand furniture, electrical goods and other household items to local families in need.
The Community Furniture Project (Newbury) was established in 1997 by Berkshire Women’s Aid with a grant from the National Lotteries Charities Board. The project was then legally transferred to the NCRC in December 2000 with a new Board of Trustees. There are currently eight people on the Board made up of local residents: a housing specialist, a bank manager, a training professional, two volunteers, a local councillor and accountant, and a retired prominent businessman. Two of our trustees are also service users.
In June 2004 the Community Furniture Project (Basingstoke) was started by the NCRC, with funding from CRED (Community Recycling and Economic Development) Programme of the Big Lottery Fund, and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
In September 2005, the Community Re-use Centre was opened in a new building (The Slater Centre) at New Greenham Park. NCRC and West Berkshire Mencap are joint tenants of the building, which was provided by Greenham Common Trust. Funding was also received from CRED to set up the new Project.
These two Projects operate in parallel with the Community Furniture Project (Newbury), using the same policies and practices and are coordinated by the NCRC management team based in Newbury. In addition, our new training department is run from the Community Re-use Centre, offering accredited training to all our volunteers through the National Open College Network (NOCN) in practical skills including furniture repair, woodwork and warehousing.
