So many volunteers that London charities are turning hundreds away

Organisations today revealed that volunteer vacancies had been heavily oversubscribed amid fears the looming recession and redundancies would lead to an influx of people needing help.

Homelessness charity Crisis easily filled its 9,000 volunteer quota for its eight-day Crisis Christmas scheme, forcing it to reject would-be helpers and St John Ambulance said it would have its "best Christmas for several years" thanks to the high number of applicants.

Charities for children, the blind, and people with terminal illnesses are also reporting full houses.

Research by Crisis revealed that nearly one in 10 people is struggling to pay the rent or mortgage, raising fears of an increase in homelessness.

Duncan Shrubsole, director of policy and research at Crisis, said today that the "surge" of volunteers was an example of the generosity of Londoners in the most testing times.

The charity has opened nine temporary centres across the capital, providing hot meals, career advice, shelter and health checks.

He said: "We have a situation where 41 per cent of adults in Britain know someone who has lost their job and almost one in 10 are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage.

"In spite of that, we have had an incredible number of volunteers come forward this year - the public have been quite extraordinary in their generosity."

Mr Shrubsole said the charity had up to 2,500 more volunteers than last Christmas,

Pat Halpin, St John Ambulance's assistant commissioner for member support, said there were 4,000 volunteers this year.

Steve Taylor, of Sue Ryder Care - which supports the seriously ill and their families - said the charity had the upper limit of 15 to 20 volunteers for each of its six London shops.

Macmillan Cancer Support also reported a full team effort and a spokeswoman said: "We had great numbers this year and all our fundraisers were really successful. Our committees are themselves boosted with about 10 extra volunteers on the day of the event."

Despite the good news this Christmas, there are gloomy predictions for early next year when unemployment is forecast to hit the two million mark.

Leslie Morphy, chief executive of Crisis, said: "Our fear is that as the recession bites in the new year, we are going to see more people in the same situation as those relying on our Christmas centres today."

Not all charities have been inundated, however, and both the Red Cross and Scope are still looking for volunteers between Christmas and New Year.

Scope, the cerebral palsy charity, is launching a month-long volunteering drive in its 60 London charity shops. A spokesman said: "We always need more volunteers in our shops."

Volunteers should ask in their local shop for details of how to get involved.