NORTH Wiltshire's Citizens' Advice Bureau is urging local people to join as volunteers to help ease staff shortages which have drastically reduced opening hours.

The bureau has been forced to close its main branch at Monkton Hill in Chippenham in the afternoon, as the increasing number of inquiries from the public threatens to swamp its small, dedicated team.

Manager Liz Taylor said the group hopes to attract between 12 and 15 new volunteers early in 2004.

She said: "It has been like emptying the ocean with a bucket trying to deal with all the new inquiries. We were swamped."

Mrs Taylor said the staff shortage was the natural result of volunteers finding different jobs or moving away.

She explained that shortages had led to managers being forced to fill in the gaps, but it reached the stage when they no longer had time to do their own job as well.

She said the bureau has recently been awarded £9,596 from The Nationwide Foundation and is hoping for a further £29,122 over two years from Chippenham Borough Lands, which promised to match fund the bureau if it was awarded funding.

Mrs Taylor said the cash will be used to hire a recruitment co-ordinator and a supervisor to support new volunteers.

"If you want to set yourself new goals that will be fascinating, challenging and personally rewarding, give us a call," she said.

"North Wiltshire CAB has 29 volunteers, some are advisors, some help with our IT needs and some do social policy work. The amount of time they give the CAB varies, but what they share in common is their commitment to north Wiltshire and it's communities."

As well as Chippenham, the North Wiltshire CAB also covers Calne, Corsham, Wootton Bassett and Malmesbury. It dealt with 34,000 inquiries last year helping local people resolve problems by providing information, advice and by influencing local policy makers.

Nearly 80 per cent of CAB workers are volunteers. Formal qualifications are not needed and many volunteers find that CAB's training and experience can help provide a route to paid work.

Trainees are supported through the programme and regular reviews help them develop their skills.

For more information, telephone North Wiltshire CAB on (01249) 443054.