Staff at the Speedy Laundry branch started helping their local homeless charity in 2018 when they refused payment for laundering blankets that were brought in by Trinity United Reformed Church at the end of the three-month winter night shelter season.

Trinity URC hosts the night shelter every Saturday night in January, February and March, as part of Wycombe Homeless Connection’s weekly rota of seven local churches.

Then this year, Speedy Laundry went even further in their support: they offered to collect, launder, and return all the laundry from the shelter, operated at the same venue. That’s a top sheet, bottom sheet and pillowcase for up to 12 guests for 13 Saturday nights. Plus, at the end of the shelter, the laundering of the 42 blankets that are used to keep guests warm.

Local charity Wycombe Homeless Connection runs the Wycombe Winter Night Shelter, which began in 2008. It operates from seven church premises from the beginning of January to the end of March, each one providing a nourishing evening meal, a bed for the night, and a hearty breakfast for those who have found themselves homeless for whatever reason.

Wycombe Homeless Connection said: “The generous support from Speedy Laundry has made a huge difference to our guests and to our small congregation. At present each venue is responsible for organising its own weekly laundry for the 13 weeks of the shelter, and some of the churches have small congregations.”

Wycombe Homeless Connection’s work is year-round, with a small dedicated staff and an army of local volunteers providing advice and help in getting housing, or preventing eviction. Last year it helped around 540 local people in housing crisis in High Wycombe.