Hundreds of items of free furniture are being given out to hard-pressed Havering scools by kind donors at Rainham’s Centre for Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (Ceme).

Brittons Academy, in Ford Lane, Rainham, and Bower Park School, in Havering Road North, Romford, have already accepted the offer of free desks, chairs and cabinets - and others are expected to follow.

Jenny Clay, of Ceme, said: “As a result of changing requirements we have a large amount of furniture we do not need any more. It includes hundreds of chairs, desks, tables, and cabinets. It is all in very good condition, modern and much of it hardly used.

“Most of it is ideal as school equipment, either for the classroom or office use.

“At a time when we all understand that school budgets are being squeezed we thought it would be good to offer it to local schools for their use at no cost whatsoever and we are pleased some local schools have already accepted the furniture and others are showing interest.

“If there are schools out there who would like some of these items, all they have to do is get in touch with us and we can give them the details.

“The only thing we can’t do is arrange transport, so any interested schools will have to make their own arrangements to pick it up from our offices in Rainham.”