Bromley Citizens Advice will highlight the key role it plays as a charity in the community as part of Advice Week 2006 taking place across the UK from September 11 to 17.

It will join hundreds of other Citizens Advice Bureaux in a celebration of its work and a drive to attract volunteers and additional funding.

Advice Week 2006 is organised by Citizens Advice - the national charity and umbrella organisation for all bureaux - and takes place under the banner "Support the charity for your community".

Last year CAB advisers around the country provided 9.6 million hours of free, confidential, independent and impartial advice.

But MORI research shows that only a third of the population know that Citizens Advice Bureaux are charities that rely on support both from volunteers and financially from the communities they serve.

David Coles, of Bromley Citizens Advice, said: "Advice Week 2006 gives us the ideal opportunity to raise awareness amongst local people of the work that we do and of how we can help them.

"But it also gives us the chance to ask them to help us by using some of their spare time to volunteer, and to remind local businesses that we also need their support.

"Bromley Citizens Advice is making such a difference to the community - we are extremely proud of the work we do. If you would like to find out more about volunteering for us please call our volunteer hotline 020 8315 1954 for details of our introductory morning on September 19."

The Citizens Advice service is one of the UK's largest voluntary organisations as well as one of the best known in the UK - 95 per cent of people have heard of the organisation and more than half have used a CAB at some stage in their life, or have friends and family who have.

The organisation dealt with nearly 5.3 million new problems last year (2004-5), with bureaux delivering high-quality advice and information on just about everything from consumer problems, debt and benefit issues to housing, employment and legal matters.

Advice is free, confidential and impartial and open to everybody.

MORI research has also found that almost four in ten people who use a Citizens Advice Bureau are financially better off as a result.

Bromley Citizens Advice, with its team of over 100 volunteers, helped more than 16,000 local people last year.

The top three problem areas were housing, debt and benefits closely followed by employment and consumer.