Furniture Now! (FN!) Celebrates 15th Birthday

Furniture Now! celebrated its 15th birthday on 11th September 2009 with guests Mrs Sara Stonor, the Vice Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex and Norman Baker MP. Other guests included representatives from Lewes District Council, East Sussex County Council, Sussex Downs College, Eastbourne Association for Voluntary Service (EAVS) and various funders. Volunteers came from Eastbourne and Lewes to be honoured for the enormous amount of time they have dedicated to FN! which allows the charity to offer furniture and training at such low cost or even free.

Rik Child, the Director said, “It was great to have so many people celebrating with us I wish to thank Norman Baker for his cheering speech in which he wished us another 15 years of success. Norman has always been a loyal supporter of FN! since its inception, sponsoring our funding bids, helping promote the local kerbside scheme and being with us when we won awards.”

He added, “I especially wish to thank Mrs Sara Stonor for showing such interest in the charity and awarding certificates to all our hard working volunteers some of whom have done amazing amounts of work this year and without whom our work would not be possible.”

One volunteer from Eastbourne, Peter Davis gave over 750 hours so far this year as a volunteer driver and warehouse operative. Stuart Scarisbrick of Barcombe won the prize of “volunteer of the year” for his dedicated work both in helping clients choose the items they want and delivering them in the van usually five days a week. Stuart said, “I love working at Furniture Now! and I am on an NVQ in Customer Services so I will have a record of all I have done here that I can show future employers.”

Adam Chugg, CEO of EAVS in Eastbourne who was at the event commented, “Furniture Now! is a valued partner of longstanding. Undoubtedly, FN!’s work improves and benefits the community in Eastbourne and all over East Sussex.”

The Charity continues to offer NVQs in a number of disciplines and an increasing range of training courses for example in jewellery making, interior design and painting furniture. These are open to all and more information is available on the website http://www.furniturenow.org.uk/

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