VOLUNTEERS who offer advice to people in Crook are celebrating the first anniversary of their move to a new home.

Last year, people working in their free time for Signpost managed to help people living in Crook gain £260,000 in benefits and other entitlements which they might otherwise have missed out on.

Manager Malcolm Chatham said a lot of the success was down to the charity's move to a more prominent position in the town.

As well as new premises,the charity also employed a senior advice officer, Brenda Wilkinson, and Mr Chatham volunteered to take on the post as manager.

He said: "We were in Hope Street for about four years and we did have a lot of people who used us on a regular basis, but that has increased since we moved to Royal Corner.'

To celebrate the success of the year volunteers enjoyed a buffet and were presented with certificates to thank them for their hard work.

Mr Chatham said: "Everybody has worked really hard, there is no doubt about that.

"It has been a really hard 12 months with alterations to the new office having to be completed while they continued to work.

"This has created a firm foundation which will enable Signpost to go from strength to strength."