Business Breakfast: Furniture firms team up behind Harrogate charitySearch launched for business to help cut numbers of local children in ‘bed poverty’Harrogate charity furnishes homes for domestic abuse survivors

A Harrogate furniture reuse charity has helped to furnish four properties for female survivors of domestic abuse.

Essential Needs, on Leeds Road, has partnered with Independent Domestic Abuse Services (IDAS), which is the largest specialist domestic abuse charity in Yorkshire.

The homes in the Harrogate area will be used by women moving away from violence and abuse.

Essential Needs provided four of each of the following items; sofa, bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside drawer, kitchen table and chairs, coffee table, TV and TV unit, microwave, kettle, toaster and vacuum.

Lee Wright, manager at Essential Needs said:

“Essential Needs wanted to support IDAS as their work is lifesaving and the pandemic has made conditions for victim-survivors even worse.

“It was great to be able to partner in a way that drew on both our strengths as charities, supporting people who really need the help and to give them the best chance of living a life free from abuse and violence.”

Lucinda, a fake name, is one of the survivors that has moved into one of the properties. She said:

“The flat is lovely and homely, it is great to have the freedom to be able to go for walks again. The staff have been really lovely, and kind and it makes me feel safe to know that they are just a phone call away.

“I was so worried about how I would do this on my own but now all my worries about moving have gone away. I am safe.”

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Essential Needs sells donated furniture at low prices at its Leeds Road warehouse.

IDAS said all the properties now have residents that are getting the support they need to recover from their experience and rebuild. It added it was always looking to accommodate and help more survivors of domestic abuse so will likely partner with Essential Needs again.

Mel Milner, project officer for IDAS dispersed housing and safe havens in Harrogate and district area, said:

“We are very grateful for the generosity of our partners at Essential Needs. When survivors escape abuse, it’s so important that it represents more than just a roof over their heads, so we work hard to furnish our properties with everything you would need to have the best fresh start.”

Charity Corner: Combating furniture poverty across the Harrogate district

Tucked away behind Leeds Road in Harrogate is a charity working to combat furniture poverty by giving those struggling for items the chance to make a house a home.

Essentials Needs, on Back Gladstone Street, takes donations of beds, sofas, furniture, bedding and electrical appliances and sells them to people in need.

Initially the charity was set up just to help people on low income or benefits but it has now opened it’s shop to the wider public too.

Set up over 25 years ago, manager Lee Wright said the need for its services has rocketed in recent years with more and more people coming in for help.

The charity is run by a team of nine staff and 23 volunteers who make sure people have the furniture they need at a price they can afford.

Sofas and beds are the most in demand items for the charity. Last year it sold almost 4,500 items, including 345 sofas and 311 beds and mattresses.

Furniture is checked to make sure it is in good condition.

The items range in price but are significantly lower than most outlets and people on means-tested benefits or low income are offered an extra 30% discount.

Mr Wright said:

“We are here to help people in crisis. Just because the people we help may be struggling financially it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have nice things. People shouldn’t be without a bed or a sofa, we’re here to help them in any way we can.

“We are very lucky with the donations we get, we are never without which is great. People are becoming more aware of reusing items so people are always calling us up to offer their furniture.”

The charity works by sending staff and volunteers out in vans to pick up donations, which are then checked or PAT tested and put into the showroom.

More of the items available to buy.

Last year the charity stopped 62 tonnes of usable furniture going to landfill. It also helped 783 households purchase low cost furniture in the Harrogate district.

Mr Wright added:

“There are a lot of people in Harrogate struggling, it’s no different to any other area. The £20 uplift that has just disappeared will have an impact. Even people working five days a week or a low wage need our help.

“We had people literally knocking at the door after lockdown because they’d moved in to a new place at the beginning but had nothing, so we had to open for a skeleton service.”

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As well as sofas and beds, the showroom has bedroom furniture, tables and chairs, curtains and home accessories. It is also part of the Reuse Network, meaning it receives bags of ex-display or returned bedding and pillows from Dunelm Mill.

The charity also works with other local charities, such as IDAS Women’s refuge in Harrogate, Harrogate Homeless Project and branches of The Royal British Legion

In future, the charity hopes to sell carpets and set up a community group to repair furniture.

Horticap holds open weekend as part of climate festival

Harrogate charity Horticap is holding open days today and tomorrow to encourage children and families to learn how to protect their local environment.

The open days are part of the Harrogate District Climate Change Coalition climate action festival, which is being held in the run up to the UN climate change festival COP26 in Glasgow.

Horticap, a charity-run nursery on Otley Road that provides horticulture training for people with disabilities, is hosting stands by charities and businesses.

The weekend aims to get people involved in environmental efforts and highlight the importance of recycling and protecting local green spaces.

The event is being staged by Horticap and Pinewoods Conservation Group.

Lucy Hind, from Pinewoods Conservation Group, organised rock painting for children and gave information to people on how they can use the green space around them.

She said:

“Horticap come into the Pinewoods a lot to do work for us so we wanted to make sure we were supporting this.

“This weekend is about getting children involved and educating them and getting children out and about.”

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Other exhibitors include Harrogate District Biodiversity Action Group, Essential Needs and Cone Exhange.

Donated scrap

Chris Powell, community champion at Cone Exchange, talked about the Bettys and Taylors community project in Starbeck, which turns donated scrap into usable products and crafts.

Chris Powell with the items made from business waste group’s workshop

“We reuse lots of different business waste and we work to repurpose that with adults with disabilities. We work with the students’ skills to create a product, it could be something as simple as craft items or decorative items out of plastic lids from local takeaways.

“The aim is to get everyone involved and reduce business waste.”

Mr Powell said he was at the event to make people aware of the project and to raise some money for charities with their products.

Phil Airey, operations manager at Horticap, said:

“I just want to promote everybody here and encourage people to get involved in projects locally. So come along!”

The stands will be back open tomorrow 10-4pm.

Horticap’s greenhouse