A DAY centre which was forced to close after a fraudster swindled it out of thousands of pounds is getting back on its feet.

Carterton Day Centre for the elderly is holding a boot sale tomorrow to take OAPs on a £1,000 trip to Weston-Super-Mare.

The Lawton Avenue centre was closed for seven months from June 2009 after a 65-year-old volunteer stole £6,700 from its bank account.

Frances Vickers, of Bluebell Way, Carterton, was an unpaid treasurer at the centre when she began paying cheques into her own account.

She was jailed for 10 months at Oxford Crown Court after admitting three counts of fraud.

She asked for another offence, involving more than £2,000, to be taken into consideration. She was ordered to repay the money, which is due to be passed to the day centre by the court soon.

Manager Lyn Stanley said: “We are just about getting on our feet after what she did to us.

“When we first came back it was very difficult. Numbers were low and lot of them were uncertain about coming back.”

“But now the majority are back. It’s lovely.”

The day centre is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and caters for 20 elderly people.

User Jill Driscoll, 73, of Milestone Road, Carterton, said she had not had a holiday in 15 years.

She said: “I’m looking forward to a bit of fresh air and good company – and a stick of rock.”

She said of the centre: “If I didn’t go I would be stuck in four walls – or climbing them.”

The sale is at Foxbury Farm Shop, Burford Road, Brize Norton from 10am to 4pm.