Suffolk Citizens Advice branches meet at Ravenwood Hall Hotel, near Bury St Edmunds, to celebrate 85 years of organisation

Branches of Citizens Advice from across Suffolk met at a hotel near Bury St Edmunds to celebrate 85 years of the organisation this week.

Ravenwood Hall Hotel, in Rougham, hosted the event, which saw representatives from five Citizens Advice branches raise a glass to the organisation, which opened its first branch in September 4, 1939 – the day after World War Two broke out.

The Citizens Advice network grew at one stage to more than 1,000 local offices, but now stands at around 250.

During 2023/24, Citizens Advice West Suffolk, Citizens Advice Mid Suffolk, Sudbury and South Suffolk Citizens Advice, Citizens Advice East Suffolk and Citizens Advice Ipswich, between them helped 28,921 people to address 133,270 issues.

This resulted in £8.5 million income gained for clients and more than £9 million of debt managed effectively.

To achieve this, there were 161,844 email, telephone and face-to-face interactions.

All Suffolk Citizens Advice offices rely heavily on volunteers to work alongside paid teams – 82,070 hours were donated by Suffolk volunteers last year, equating to £2.8 million-worth of volunteer time.

As independent charities, all five local Citizens Advice offices (LCAs) are constantly under pressure for funding, applying for grants and project funding from organisations including councils, Suffolk Community Foundation, trusts and private sector organisations.