New home for much-loved Halesworth Charity Shop

>May Events / charities / Events in Norfolk and Suffolk / Health & Wellbeing May 1, 2015

A much-loved Halesworth charity shop which has raised more than £120,000 for charity since opening – including nearly £60,000 for Halesworth Community Nursing Care Fund (HCNCF) – has moved to larger premises after outgrowing its previous home.

Dee’s Den has relocated to a building twice the size – but just two doors away – from its previous premises in Steeple End, Halesworth. The move will allow it to stock more donated clothes, shoes, handbags, bric-a-brac and jewellery to sell on behalf of HCNCF, which it has supported since January 2013.

In its first ten days in its new home, the shop took £1,100. It is hoped volunteers can build on that success over the coming weeks to give HCNCF’s ongoing campaign to raise £714,000 to build a new information and support centre (ISC) a further boost.

Dee Shipley, who started the shop with her partner Billy Mayhew, said: “The new premises are really lovely and give us much more space to display the generous donations we receive from local people.

“We are overwhelmed by the support we get from the community, and have had some lovely new things in since we moved to the shop, including bed linen and clothing. We are really grateful to everyone who gives so generously.

“We couldn’t do it without our lovely team of volunteers, who not only work in the shop but also get the donations ready for sale by washing and ironing them.”

The ISC, earmarked for land next to Cutlers Hill Surgery in Halesworth, will bring a full range of holistic services closer to home, including benefits advice, wig-fitting, complementary therapies, help understanding a diagnosis, counselling and bereavement support.

It will serve around 50,000 people living within a 15 mile radius of Halesworth, who currently have to travel up to 30 miles to a major town or city to access support, and will be open to both patients and their carers.

Ted Edwards, ISC chairman, said: “We are incredibly grateful for the support we receive from Dee and her fantastic group of volunteers. They have raised an incredible amount for HCNCF so far and continue to amaze us every week.

“We are pleased that they are happy with their new premises, which will give them the chance to display even more of the generous donations they receive and give our fundraising drive a further boost.”

For more information about the ISC project, or to make a donation, visit www.halesworthhealth.org/information-and-support-centre