CHIPPING Norton is often billed in the press as a second home for the chic London set.

But a group of volunteers setting up a debt help organisation say there are hidden depths of poverty in the town.

Christian Against Poverty (CAP) is about to launch a home help service that will offer advice and one-to-one help for those suffering from financial problems.

A team of volunteers officially launched the new scheme on Monday [10/04] at St Mary’s Church.

Using the church as a base they will begin their campaign by leafleting the town.

Volunteer Athene Mitchell, a retired registrar who lives in Burford St Michael, said: “We’re about the local community and helping local people in need and staying with them through their journey out of debt.

“The thing with debt is that it’s often hidden. You might think that north west Oxfordshire is a wealthy area, but you would be wrong because debt is all around us.

“There are all sorts of reasons for people being in debt from social circumstances to job losses.”

She added: “CAP is unique in that it offers support for people throughout their entire journey out of financial problems.

“We will visit people in their homes and assess their needs.

“We deal with the paperwork and help them create a budget.

“We sometimes look after our clients for two or three years.

“Each client has their own case worker and we offer befriending services, but we don’t give financial advice.”

Mrs Mitchell added: “It needs to be fun as well, because being in debt is no fun, so we run breaks, away days and holidays that people can go on to give them a break away from everything.”

Chris Butterworth, deputy mayor of Chipping Norton, said: “The premise that it’s a fairly poor area is definitely true.

“It gets talked about a lot on the news as if it’s a wealthy area but there’s actually a lot of rural poverty.

“There are families who are definitely not well off and elderly people living off just their state pensions.”

CAP was set up in 1996 and is an international charity. It has 280 centres across the UK.

There is already a CAP centre in Witney which was set up in 2014 in a partnership between St Leonards Church in Eynsham, Welcome Evangelical Church and The Gathering, with support from St Mary’s in Cogges.

The Oxford CAP Debt Centre was launched in June 2014. It includes St Matthews, St Clement’s, Cornerstone in Headington, Emmanuel in the Plain, Magdalen Road and Headington Baptist Church.

For information about the Chipping Norton centre email athenemitchell@cap.org.uk