A VITAL homeless centre in Worcester has been handed a £7,000 funding boost - which means it could open for an extra day every week.

Maggs Day Centre is celebrating after getting one of its biggest single donations in recent years.

The Deansway-based facility, which caters for people off the streets, has been handed the money from St Andrew's Methodist Church in Pump Street.

Bosses at the centre now say it could be open for six days a week instead of the current five, with a decision due to be taken by the autumn.

The trustees are seeing if they can raise more cash before making their minds up, saying they don't want to extend it six days only to lurch back again once the fund dries up.

John Stanbury, chairman of the Maggs Day Centre trustees board, said: "We used to open for five days, then we went to seven only to go back to five.

"The money will allow us to open for an extra day for six months, so we are prepared to wait a little longer before making a decision to see if we can make that sixth day a long-term move.

"The money from the church is wonderful for us, it's greatly appreciated and I'd like to say thank you to St Andrews, sincerely, for making the continued development of our work possible."

The decision to go to five days per week was made last year after funds dropped due to organisations and backers feeling the squeeze in their finances.

Over the last year Maggs Day Centre got £165,000 in income, of which nearly £64,000 was donated from the public, churches, schools and a range of other organisations.

From January 2013 to March this year a total of 344 homeless people used the centre - meaning it is vital to the city.

The Reverend Anne Smith, from St Andrew's Methodist Church, said: "We were delighted to hand over the money because Maggs Day Centre is something we believe plays a very important role for the city."