£1/2m raised in decade of trading

In the decade it has been open the Beaumond House Community Hospice charity shop has raised more than £1/2m.

The shop, on Stodman Street, Newark, started trading on June 20, 1998, four years after the first Beaumond House charity shop opened in Southwell.

The Newark shop has 36 volunteers working shifts throughout the week.

Many of them attended celebrations on Friday when a cake was cut and people signed a tenth anniversary book.

The supervisor, Marina Miller, has been at the shop since it opened. Three regular volunteers have also worked at the shop for the full ten years.

Miss Barbara Mabbott (86) of Cleveland Square, Newark, and Mrs Dorothy Rawson (91) of Hawton Road, Newark, have worked the Friday afternoon shift since opening day.

Miss Mabbott previously worked at the Southwell store. She became involved because her sister died in Beaumond House.

“I felt that I would like to do something for them and so I started to volunteer,” said Miss Mabbott.

Mrs Rawson knew Miss Mabbott through the Women’s Institute and so began to volunteer as well.

She said they had a core of regular customers who went in to see them most Fridays.

Mrs Rawson said: “I can only say how pleased people are when they come into the shop.

“They always say what a nice shop it is, with clothes that are nice and clean.”

“I can’t believe it has been ten years. It has gone very fast.”

Mrs Vera Ellis (70) of Bowbridge Road, Newark, is the other ten-year volunteer.

“The shop is helping local people,” she said. “It is successful because people know where their money is going.”

Marina Miller said £1/2m was a fantastic figure for the shop to have raised.

She said that it would not have been possible without the volunteers.

“Everything we raise goes towards patient care,” she said. “I think people of Newark feel proud to work for and volunteer for Beaumond House.”

Mrs Christine Smith, the executive care manager at Beaumond House, said: “We couldn’t do our jobs without the support of the shops and the volunteers.

“It is very much a local charity so people will come to the shop to support it because they know where the money goes. It is a charity very much in their hearts.”

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer should call at the shop between 9.30am and 1pm and ask for Marina Miller.