The Newbury Community Resource Centre (NCRC) helps local people by providing furniture, household goods, training and services to support independent living. We assist people to develop work and social skills, and we encourage environmentally beneficial activities by promoting re-cycling and re-use.
Established in 2000, NCRC (registered charity 1082243) took over the Community Furniture Project in Newbury which was first established by Berkshire Women’s Aid in 1998. Since then, the charity has gone from strength to strength, operates four key projects and won Greenham Trust’s Charity of the Year Award in November 2025.
Our history
In 2004 we established the Basingstoke Community Furniture Project. In 2006 the Slater Centre opened its doors in Greenham offering day services for vulnerable adults and achieved accredited training provider status. In 2010 the Growing 2gether therapeutic horticulture project was set up at Cottismore Park near Kingsclere. We moved all our Newbury operations to our site in Bone Lane Newbury in 2012; the Slater Centre then became the Training & Community Support Project and we created the workshops which are attached to the Furniture Project.
Community resource
Since then, we have operated community support programmes through the Covid pandemic and in support of refugees. We have established forest school activities and after taking over the operation of the Renewal project, we successfully completed this Lottery-funded river-habitat conservation programme.
A significant element of our focus on poverty alleviation includes operating our Essential Household Goods Scheme in partnership with local agencies. We have also established a community freezer to provide food storage for some of the food poverty charities active in West Berkshire and we have provided bikes enabling children from low-income families to access Bike-ability training in local schools.
Thank you to our supporters
Throughout our development we have been enormously grateful to the organisations and individuals who have generously supported us, recognising the value of what we provide and our capacity to do so. The whole list is extensive, but Greenham Trust deserves a special mention for their substantial and long-term support across all projects.
We work closely with West Berkshire Council and Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council who give us support in different ways and both local authorities appreciate and understand the positive difference we make to the lives of their residents.
We are also extremely grateful to everyone who donates to us – whether that’s furniture and household goods, or funds – and to all our customers who shop at our Furniture Projects. Everyone who does so is supporting the community and is part of our success.
