A COMMUNITY project which has grown from small beginnings has celebrated its 10th birthday.

The Community Furniture Project was set up in Joule Road, on the Houndmills Industrial Estate, in 2004 following the success of a similar project in Newbury.

The idea was replicated in Basingstoke, and launched under the leadership of manager Phelim O’Hagan – and he is still at the helm today.

Over the years, the project has grown in size, and now it has around 80 volunteers who help to restore furniture and collect and deliver items.

During its first year of opening, a target was set to open three days per week, attract 80 customers through the door each month and sell to 56 people to make a total of £1,232.

Now, the scheme is open six days a week, has 2,878 visitors each month and sells to an average of 611 people – generating £14,506.

Last year, a total of 1,118 items were saved from going to landfill by the project and recycled and sold on.

Kelvin Hughes, chief executive of the Community Furniture Project, said: “There are three main benefits. The first is to provide second-hand furniture at low cost to those in the Basingstoke and Deane area. The second is to provide a means for people to reuse and recycle in the local community and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill, and the third is to give opportunities to vulnerable members of the community to give them work experience.”

In fact, 54 per cent of the 80 volunteers are people with learning disabilities or mental health problems.

Richard Mecham is one of these. The 34-year-old, from Winklebury, has volunteered with the project since the very first day it opened, when he turned up at the door asking to help.

He said: “I enjoy going out sometimes in the van, and I make tea.” Asked why he wanted to volunteer, he said: “I was bored at home. I’ve been here ever since.”

The project celebrated its 10th birthday by inviting Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane Councillor Roger Gardiner to have a look around the centre, before volunteers and key people from the charity enjoyed refreshments.

Mr O’Hagan said he took on the challenge of setting up the project in Basingstoke after working at the Newbury centre for four years.

He said: “I loved the idea of setting it up from scratch. We started from one unit and everything was in there so we were very restricted. The workshop area was tiny. It took us a year to get a second unit and five years for a third which gave us the space for a proper workshop.

“Before, if a bed came in, we wouldn’t have space to assemble it. Now we can build it straight away or if it needs repair we can repair it straight away.”

The project has been key in helping people who lost their furniture during the floods that affected the Buckskin area of Basingstoke in February this year.