STAFF at a mental health centre staged a Christmas sales evening in a bid to raise hundreds of pounds for the charity.

Restore on Didcot’s Fleet Meadow estate runs a drop-in centre for people with mental health problems.

Yesterday they held a Christmas sales evening at the centre in Sandringham Road.

Manager Olivier Guillot, pictured front with, left to right, member Neil Barett, recovery co-ordinator Gordon Lawson and member Heather Morris, said: “We have 54 people a week using the centre and they make garden benches and other wooden items for the garden. They also make ceramic Christmas decorations and we have produced a 2012 calendar featuring service users, which we are selling for £7.99.

“People who use the centre get a great sense of achievement from making various items and they can also come here to relax and meet other people.

“We are a bit isolated on the Fleet Meadow estate but I’m hoping this evening will raise hundreds of pounds.”

Visitors to the centre were given mince pies, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts.

Mr Guillot added that similar sales evenings were being held at Restore centres in Manzil Way, East Oxford tomorrow, from 11am to 4pm, and in Rymers Lane, Oxford, on Friday.

In 2009, the Fleet Meadow centre received £15,000 from the Oxford Mail’s parent company the Gannett Foundation to buy a new minibus.

For further information visit restore.org.uk Picture: OX49318