A FUNDRAISING coffee morning group is being kicked out of a Red Cross shop that its members raised the money to build.

The Red Cross is converting their meeting place at Wantage Red Cross shop into a furniture outlet, which it says will make more money.

But The dozen elderly fundraisers who currently use it will be left with nowhere to go after three decades of dedicated service.

Evelyn Dance, 90, one of two members who helped found the group more than 30 years ago, said: “We are so resentful of the way it has been done.

“We worked hard and raised the money to get that centre in the first place.

“We are all elderly, so we just don’t tend to see anybody, but we go down every Tuesday morning, have a chat for an hour or so, express our views and discuss our ailments.”

Mrs Dance, of Newbury Street, and the other remaining founding member Dorothy Halliday, 91, joined the Wantage branch of the charity in 1949 and in 2012 the Red Cross presented them both with its Badge of Honour for Devoted Service.

When they first joined, the charity ran an ambulance service for Wantage and surrounding villages.

Mrs Dance remembered: “Originally each detachment had its own treasurer – we were our own business.” But Later on, the organisation was centralised.

They helped raise cash for the Wantage Red Cross centre in Wallingford Street which opened in 1972.

The group’s commandant Mary Balding stood surety for them to get a mortgage for the centre and it was named Baldings Hall in her honour.

She and Mrs Halliday were made MBEs in 1978 for their work.

But Despite all their efforts, Mrs Dance said: “Now we are all being pushed out.”

The group is expecting to hold its last coffee morning this month[[in May]] and does not know where members will meet in future.

The Red Cross said the hall is split between a shop and a centre for the loan of mobility aids equipment and to train first aid volunteers, which is where the coffee morning meets.

But Spokeswoman Rebecca McIlhone said: “In recent years the mobility aids service and the first aid training has declined.

“As a charity we have a responsibility to make best use of our funds and have taken the decision to change the use of the property.

“We will expand the existing very successful Red Cross charity shop to incorporate furniture and electrical items and generate life-saving funds for the charity.”

The mobility aids equipment service and first aid volunteers will move to Abingdon, she said.

She added: “It is hoped that the coffee mornings will continue at another local venue.

"We would like to thank the volunteer for their fantastic support over the years.”