High Wycombe Central Aid Society

What would you do with it ?

Our primary purpose is to help those in need to access basic items of furniture a no or minimal cost.  Therefore, donated items would either be sold from our warehouse or be given to someone in receipt of a Central Aid hardship grant. The majority of our stock is sold at low prices to those on low incomes. Other surplus items can be bought by the general public or may be sold on Ebay, which helps us to turn-over stock and generate cashflow to keep us in operation. Any surplus the Project makes each year goes directly to the charity, and thus into helping other people through our various services and grants. Conversely, if the Furniture Project makes a loss (as it currently does) the charity has to cover it from its reserves, which are limited.

What do you collect?

This can be complicated! Please understand that our core market is people on some form of benefits living in social housing or rented accommodation. Often people are housed or re-housed in an unfurnished property and need to start furnishing it from scratch. Our general criteria for collection are as follows:

Utility	We try to focus on basic items of utility furniture, such as beds, wardrobes, tables and chairs, sofas and suites, chests of drawers, and small storage units. Function is more important than provenance for us, although fashionable items are easier to sell, and all items must be presentable.
Size	We don't take very large items as they generally don't fit into many types of social housing, such as smaller flats. For example, we find most 3 seater sofas are too big for our requirements and have stopped taking them for now.
Safety	We are morally and legally bound to comply with all current safety regulations, in particular relating to fire retardant labelling of upholstered furniture and electrical testing.
Space	Finally, as we have limited space in the warehouse at times we have to stop taking certain items of furniture if we have too many of them in stock. (Check our Current Status page for the latest warehouse information including space and stock situation.)

Please note that our driver always has the final say on what is collected. Staff in the warehouse can only give general guidance on what we do and don't take.

What condition should it be in?

We only take items that are in good, saleable condition. Most of our clients choose and buy their own items, so they do need to be reasonably presentable. That means nothing seriously marked, stained, badly scratched, damaged, torn, ripped, smelly, threadbare, damaged by cats and dogs, left out in the rain and so on... Regrettably, we are not able to recover or restore furniture due to lack or resources. (There are a few organisations like Emmaus and Rethink that do restoration as part of re-training schemes, but we don't know of any ones local to Wycombe - contact us if you find any.)

How do I get it to you?

You are welcome to bring it down to our warehouse during opening hours (please discuss with us first so you don't have a wasted trip). Please note that we cannot guarantee to accept any particular item from a phone discussion alone - we do reserve the right to refuse items we have not seen in person. If you are bringing it on your own you would be advised to ring the warehouse to check that there is someone on duty who is able to do heavy lifting.

Do you Collect?

Depending on where you are, yes. Most people use our collection service: if you live within our collection area (see maps below), we will arrange for our van and volunteer collection team to visit you, assess the items offered and take away the items we can use.

Briefly, we will collect from all of Wycombe District, All of Chiltern District, and that part of South Bucks District above the M40 and outside the M25 (i.e. Gerrards Cross and Beaconsfield but not Farnham Royal, Ilmer and so on).

Wycombe District	Chiltern District
South Bucks District (the part we cover)

For logistical reasons we allocate collection 'slots' to each area:

(Check our Current Status page for typical collection waiting times.)

Do you charge?

We don't charge, but do ask for a voluntary financial donation if we collect something. (We are hopeful that continued income from voluntary donations will help us to avoid levying a standard collection charge of around £10.) If you are able to give a financial donation our driver will ask you to complete a short form which enables us to claim the Gift Aid portion if you are a taxpayer.

For reference, Wycombe District Council will charge a standard fee of £30 for collection of up to 4 'bulky waste' items from the edge of your property to then dump in landfill. We believe Dreams plc also charge around £30 to remove your old bed if you buy a new one with them - these are then shredded and recycled at their facility in the Midlands.

How do I arrange a collection?

Firstly, please have a look at our Furniture Donation FAQ's, which contain lots of useful information about what we do and don't take. Then you can either call us on (01494) 443459 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the details of what you have and where you live. One of our volunteers will then discuss the items offered and arrange a collection slot as appropriate.

Please note that the warehouse is only open part-time and our call and message volume can be high, so please don't expect an instant response - our volunteers do work through the messages as quickly as they can but we often fight a losing battle against the answering machine. We do have an email address ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if that helps!

We can't do same day collections.

As a general rule most of our collection slots are fully booked up to a week or so in advance (See Current Status), so please allow plenty of time to organise a collection visit.

Do you do house clearances?

Strictly speaking, no. We are more than happy to organise a visit from our collection team, but they will only collect items we can use - we are not able to clear a house of all contents for dumping. That said, many people have found our service useful in terms of reducing the amount of items they have to dispose of, knowing that we can find a new home for most of the items we collect.

There are a number of businesses and (a few) charities we know of that will do complete house clearances - contact us for details if you are interested. (You may pay anything from £150 up to a few hundred pounds for a professional house clearance.) It is very important you check that anyone you use for house clearances is registered with the Environment Agency (see our donation FAQ Q16).