SWINDON Council has done a good thing in coming to the rescue of furniture charity Top Drawer.

Thanks to a chronic and disgraceful lack of funding, our local authority is going through its leanest times since it assumed control of the borough almost exactly 17 years ago.

Cuts which would have been unthinkable only a few years ago are now almost a matter of routine, and many vulnerable people who rely on the help of others find themselves facing a future filled with uncertainty.

Top Drawer has for years been helping some of the neediest people in the borough.

Rather like the foodbank, it is a fine organisation run by fine people, but the necessity for its existence is an affront to a supposedly civilised society.

Just as the foodbank helps people who would otherwise be without sustenance, so Top Drawer helps people who would otherwise be without basic household furniture. As with the foodbank, calls on Top Drawer’s services intensify as more and more people find themselves in need of work, at the mercy of benefit cuts or both.

Something else the organisations have in common is that they treat clients with respect at times when many feel their dignity is at its lowest ebb.

For Top Drawer to close – as was threatened when its funding by a housing association ended – would be a disaster, so the news that it is to be allowed to remain at its premises for the next three months is an immense relief.

With luck, Top Drawer will be able to use this breathing space to secure its long-term future.