Hastings Furniture Service

A joint meeting of the Rotary Clubs of St Leonards and Senlac held at the Highwood Golf Club on 6 March 2024 heard Angie Lowe, Project and Development Manager, speak about her organisation, The Hastings Furniture Service (HFS). HFS is an independent furniture and electrical reuse charity that first started in 1988. The organisation believes that everyone in the Hastings and Rother area should have a bed to sleep on, a cooker to prepare basic food and essential furniture to make a safe and comfortable home.

HFS have two stores in Hastings, the Bexhill branch has recently closed and new premises are being sought. The main store has a general selection of furniture and household goods, where low-income families can receive a 50 per cent discount. The other store has vintage, antique and retro furniture on which there is no discount. HFS was set up to help alleviate poverty by providing affordable quality re-used furniture and electrical goods to low-income households HFS also provide essential starter packs (including bedding; cooking utensils; toiletries and cleaning products) for families who are moving into social housing; refugees who are being resettled and women and children who are leaving refuges. These new “homes” are often bare empty flats; without even a bed to sleep on; a cooker to cook meals with or the essential furniture to create a comfortable; safe home. Since the pandemic there has been a high call for their help. In 2022 they helped 4200 people.

Furniture poverty, including white goods, is the inability to access, or afford to buy or maintain, any household furniture or appliance item that is essential to achieve a socially acceptable standard of living. 4.8 million adults and 1.2 million children are in furniture poverty. Of the 4.8 million adults in furniture poverty, 55% of those have a disability, information suggests that having a disability makes someone 3 times more likely to experience furniture poverty.

More than a million children in the UK either sleep on the floor or share a bed with parents or siblings because their family cannot afford the “luxury” of replacing broken frames and mouldy linen, according to the children’s charity Barnardo’s. The charity says increasing “bed poverty” reflects growing levels of destitution in which low-income families already struggling with soaring food or gas bills often find they are also unable to afford a comfortable night’s sleep. Acute hardship was forcing families to adopt desperately improvised sleeping arrangements, it says in a report published on Friday. An estimated 700,000 children were sharing beds, while 440,000 children slept on the floor, leaving them tired, anxious and finding it hard to concentrate at school. What are the essential items of furniture? bed, bedding and mattresses, table and chairs, sofa and/or easy chairs, wardrobe/drawers, carpets, curtains or blinds, washing machine, fridge and freezer and cooker/oven. Angie concluded by asking people to consider donating unwanted furniture and electrical white goods to HFS. Items of furniture that is upholstered needs to have a fire label and all items need to be in a good clean condition with no rips, tears or stains on them.

Further information can be found on the HFS website www.hfs.org