MEMBERS of a Salisbury day centre had the perfect present this week, as they celebrated their 35th birthday - a gift of £38,300.

The gift was in the form of a legacy left to the Jo Benson Day Centre for Physically Disabled Adults, in Christie-Miller Road, by a benefactor.

Lady Benson, who founded the centre with Professor Hugh Glanville and the late Pat Adlard, announced the gift when she attended the birthday celebrations on Monday.

The idea of a day centre for disabled people came from Prof Glanville and Ms Adlard and it was made possible by Lady Benson, who raised sufficient money to get it off the ground when she chose it as her appeal during her year as mayor of Salisbury from 1969 to 1970.

Lady Benson said the money would be a great help, as the centre receives no grants and is kept running by fundraising events and interest on a capital sum.

Lady Benson said: "The centre costs £36,000 a year to run and at the moment has two full-time and one part-time member of staff.

"Over the 35 years, the centre has depended on volunteers and this is still very much the case.

"We desperately need volunteers to guarantee the future.

"It is worth noting, that over the 35 years it has been running, volunteers have given 42,000 hours of service, saving us £168,000 based on the minimum wage, and in that time 140,000 day places have been filled by disabled people."

Currently, the centre has 20 members and is open four days a week.

When it was founded 35 years ago, it was held one day a week in a former workhouse at the old Meyrick Close hospital for the elderly, at the junction of Downton Road with the Blandford Road.

It moved to its current home in the 1970s.