Charity shop desperate for donations

Pauline Matthews: desperate for donations

A HEART charity is sending a driver out to pick up donations of items to sell in its Oldham shop as stock levels reach crisis point.

The shelves of the British Heart Foundation shop, in Henshaw Street, are emptying quickly, and the charity has nothing left to fill them with.

Shop manager Pauline Matthews said: “Normally at this time of year we have a lot of stock to sell over Christmas and the New Year. We are quite desperate, so we have taken the very unusual step of running a collection service.”

Arctic conditions have been blamed for preventing people dropping off unwanted items, in a situation mirrored in the charity’s shops across the nation.

They have suffered a drop in donations of up to 80 per cent and the charity is urging those who can’t get to Oldham’s shop to ask for a collection, or to hold on to their goods and donate them when it is safe to do so.

Stock donations are the lifeblood of British Heart Foundation shops, which raise £22 million annually to fight heart disease, which is both Oldham’s and the nation’s biggest killer. Last year, the bad weather had a severe impact on donations, creating a loss of £1 million in sales, and this year looks like being a similar picture.

Much-needed items include good quality clothing, handbags, shoes, books, DVDs, CDs and bric-a-brac.

They can be dropped off at the shop between 8.45am and 5pm every day except Sunday. Drivers can stop outside the shop from 8.45am until 10am, before town centre barriers are closed.