COMMUNITY radio station Swindon 105.5 received a welcome donation of vital supplies on yesterday from the staff at Sainsbury’s in Stratton.

The station has recently moved from the Bentley Centre to their new facilities at the Liden Centre in Barrington Close.

With one studio already broadcasting live, a team of volunteers is hard at work hoping to have the second up and running by the end of the week with a third to follow.

Station Manager and Trainer Shirley Ludford, said: “We’ve had a good relationship with Sainsbury’s for some time.

“They’ve donated copy paper, pens, biscuits, sugar, tea, coffee, all the important stuff to keep the volunteers going.

“You can’t do it without a cuppa.”

Swindon 105.5 is a community run, not for profit station, broadcasting 24 hours a day.

The presenters are all volunteers as are the teams behind the content that goes on air, over 50 students pass through the doors every year developing industry standard skills in editing and broadcasting.

Shirley added: “We are 100 percent community. We are committed to providing a service that is different from anything in the area.

“When anyone comes here to learn or for training our aim is to get the work they produce on air.

“Our youngest presenter is just 11 years old and our oldest is 74, we’ve also got a group of visually impaired people learning to edit their own material.”

An important part of that training role is to be able to offer realistic, working facilities in which to teach.

Of the three studios set to be part of the new Liden Centre base, one will be a new digital studio secured thanks to a lottery grant and another will be a fully kitted out training studio with the ability to broadcast live.

Swindon 105.5 has grown considerably since its initial four week trial broadcasting from The Bulldog pub in 2006 and next month will see the team celebrate their eight year anniversary.