AN OXFORD homeless centre that had faced homelessness itself has been given a cash boost to refurbish its new premises.

The Gatehouse is one of five Oxfordshire groups set to share in more than £40,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards For All scheme.

Others include Modern Art Oxford, Chesterton Primary School, the Woodstock Allotments Association and Southmoor Pre-school that will all receive cash for specific projects.

The Gatehouse will get £7,700 to kit out its home in St Giles Church Hall, Woodstock Road.

The award tips the organisation’s fundraising target over the halfway mark, at about £90,000 of the £175,000 needed.

Project director Andrew Smith said: “This money will help us equip the project so we can go out and shop for the new equipment that we need. It’s brilliant.

“The response to the appeal has been fantastic, we have had unexpected donations including a £10,000 cheque from a trust fund and our supporters have also been organising events to raise money for us.”

Building is about half complete at the hall and it is planned for the project, which offers food and shelter to homeless people in the city, to move in after Christmas.

Mr Smith said: “There is a keen interest from everybody, and we keep having to say it’s not going to happen next week.

“We’re lucky that we don’t have to move until everything is ready, but the other side of Christmas it is all going to become very real.”

Earlier this year, the Gatehouse was served notice on Northgate Hall in St Michael’s Street, which it will vacate in January.

The £9,030 grant for Woodstock Allotments Association means the town will get its first ever allotments on the Blenheim Estate.

Association chairman Ray Kinch said it would pay for an entrance, rabbit-proof fencing and tidy-up.

Some 32 plots will be dug, with one reserved for Woodstock Primary School. Already 52 people have registered an interest.

Mr Kinch said: “We are pleased and it is going to be a big development for Woodstock.”

Modern Art Oxford, in Pembroke Street, will receive £10,000 to run a new intergenerational arts project. It is planned for young ‘NEETs’ – those not in education, employment or training – to work with older people with dementia, creating a display of older people’s memories.

Chesterton Primary School will receive £9,400 to expand the school’s wildlife garden.