LESS than three months after being saved from closure, Swindon Relate is so busy that it needs new counsellors.

It is planning an information day next Wednesday in a bid to find people who would be interested in doing the Relate organisation's national training course.

"We have five counsellors, including three who are on loan from mid-Wiltshire Relate, and a waiting list of people who want our help," said Ken Hitchings, who is in charge of the Swindon Relate Centre.

"So we urgently need to boost our staff numbers."

The Swindon Centre closed in February after being seriously hit by a progressive reduction in cash grants from the borough.

By then local councils throughout Wiltshire, including Swindon, were contributing just £10,000 a year between them to keep Relate' service afloat in the county.

The Swindon centre was rescued by Relate Gloucestershire, which stepped in weeks after the closure. Relate Wiltshire, also on its last legs, was saved when Trowbridge-based Virgin Mobile came forward with an offer of cash.

Mr Hitchings, who manages Relate Gloucester as well as Relate Swindon, said the Swindon centre is now afloat because of generous help from Honda and Tyco Electronics.

"We are very grateful to them," he said.

"Swindon is a town with a higher than average number of divorces and relationship breakdowns."

He is appealing to other companies to offer support, and points out that domestic strife is recognised as a cause of decreased efficiency and absence from work.

The Swindon centre asks couples who can afford it to pay £36 for each counselling session they have.

"With three or four sessions, that works out at not more than the cost of a new suit," he pointed out. "They need to ask whether saving your marriage or your relationship as a couple is worth a new suit."

Couples who cannot pay the full cost are asked to contribute as much as they can afford. Nobody, said Mr Hitchings, is turned away.

Counsellors based at offices in the Friends' Meeting House in Eastcott Hill also offer sexual therapy, and counsel gay as well as heterosexual couples. Mr Hitchings said: "From the autumn we are also hoping to offer New Life, New Challenge courses to help people who have come through divorce or breakdown of a relationship to look forward."

Relate Gloucester has nearly 20 counsellors. They earn £10 for every hour of counselling they provide.

Much of the income from both Gloucester and Swindon centres goes towards the high cost of training counsellors, who work under supervision during their three-year course.

Courses are held at Relate's national headquarters in Rugby.

The information day on Wednesday June 18 started at 10.30am at the Friends' Meeting House.

People who want more information, or who need Relate's help, can telephone Ken Hitchings on 01452 522071.