By Jill Stocks
Leeds Hospitals Charity opened their newest retail venue on Horsforth Town Street, their third shop in Leeds alongside their Crossgates and Merrion Centre outlets.
The shop was officially opened on Thursday morning by Esther Wakeman, CEO of Leeds Hospitals Charity, and trustee Mark Davis. It joins four other charity retail outlets on Town Street.
Joanne Parker is the PR and media manager. She said: “Horsforth’s obviously got such a community feel.
“There are already some really successful charity shops. It’s somewhere where a lot of people have had experiences of the hospitals before so it felt like the right kind of place to open a shop and this shops a very different style inside to the other ones that we’ve got.
“The volunteer uptake has been really good from a range of different people, from people who have retired but also people who are students looking to get experience. There’s been quite a big range of people.
“As the work was going on people were desperate to come in and drop off donations. Even though there’s all the charity shops that are already open they did say that people were coming to this one specifically because it’s the hospital charity.”
Mark Davis was keen to share his gratitude to the volunteers and staff prior to the opening.
He said: “Let me tell you a little bit about how much graft goes into putting something like this on. It’s not just the graft, it’s the professionalism, it’s the expertise, it’s the teamwork, the planning and the organisation.
“We’re here to support the NHS, we’re here to support this region, we’ve got 20,000 NHS staff in the region, we’re here to support the patients and their families and their friends. There are six million visitors to our hospitals every single year. And that’s why we’ve got to raise money.
“We spend an enormous amount of time supporting all the different initiatives that are designed to improve the lives of patients and the staff and their friends and families.
“This would not thrive without the people who are here and that is the volunteers. Without volunteers this doesn’t happen. The quality of the merchandise is amazing. But it’s the volunteers that make all the difference.”
Esther Wakeman, CEO, praised the efforts of the volunteers. She said: “I am so proud to be here today to open Horsforth. It doesn’t happen by accident, it’s a lot of work, a lot of effort goes into making it look this fantastic. I really want to say a massive thank you to the volunteers.
“Many of you will know volunteers are the lifeblood of our charity shops, they really are what makes it a special somewhere to come and shop. There are some fantastic things in there. It just all looks so good.
“This is so important because we know that the work that we do supporting our hospitals is really important.
“It’s only possible for us to give away the grants that really make a difference – whether that’s life saving equipment in the children’s hospital or cancer research – thanks to the funds that we raise transform lives.
“That’s what we’re hoping the people of Horsforth will do when they bring in their donated goods, donate their time and shop in the shop and help us to give more away in grants to the hospitals and transform lives. So I want to say a big thank you to all of you for coming today.”
Leeds Hospital Charity raises funds to support NHS staff, patients and families and fund projects and research across the eight hospitals in the Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, enhancing the care already provided.
Despite the NHS being publicly funded it is subject to budget restrictions and charities such as Leeds Hospitals Charity enable the NHS to do more and pay for extras that the NHS could not ordinarily afford.
Leeds Hospitals Charity is a grant giving charity awarding grants to fund a variety of projects across Leeds Teaching Hospitals. In the last five years it has awarded £33.7 million in grants to these hospitals, and grants are awarded with a focus on six areas of priority: equipment, research, education, health and wellbeing, environment and specialist staff.
Their current appeals include the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease, Leeds Childrens Hospital and Leeds Cancer Centre amongst many others.
More volunteers are always welcome and you can apply online. Donations can be taken during opening hours and there will be an initial promotion where anyone taking a bag of donations will receive a twenty percent discount in store.
Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 9am to 4.30pm and Sunday 11am to 4pm. You can read more information on the shop, what items can be donated and how to apply to be a volunteer on the website.
- More Horsforth news and views from WLD can be found here.
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