Thurcroft Cancer Fund raises £80k

A THURCROFT charity shop has made life easier for 14 local cancer charities after dishing out £80,000.

The trustees of the Thurcroft Cancer Fund handed out the money to representatives from the charities at a special presentation evening at Thurcroft Miners Welfare last week.

The impressive amount has been raised by the Arbour Road charity shop over the last year.

The cancer charities to benefit this year were Amy’s Retreat, Macmillan, Yorkshire Cancer, Rainbows for Rachel, PACT, Mari Curie and Neurocare.

Western Park Hospital in Sheffield, and both the Chatham Suite at ward B11 at Rotherham Hospital were also presented with cheques, along with the doctors surgery at Thurcroft.

Donations also went to two local hospices - Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice and Rotherham Hospice.

Thurcroft Cancer Fund secretary Andrea Bowling said presentation evening had been a chance to celebrate the successes of the last year.

“Each charity received a donation of between £1,000 and £15,000,” she said.

“There were representatives from all of the charities there on the night, as well as trustees and members of the local community.”

“There was plenty going on at the presentation eventing including a live band and a raffle. We even raised a further £1,500 on the night.”

All of the staff who work in the shop are volunteers and give there time for free, which means all of the money raised goes to where it is needed.

“Thurcroft is a small village and all the people who live here really support the shop and bring items in for us for us to sell,” said Andrea.

And despite the continuing tough economic climate, the shop raised over twice as much as it did last year when £30,000 was distributed.

“We have been very fortunate and we really appreciate the support from the community,” said Andrea.

“Charity shops have become very popular. We are not a very expensive shop even for a charity shop, and people come from outside the area to see what we have.”

Andrea thanked everyone who had supported the shop over the last year and encouraged people to keep on bringing in items for them to sell.

Anyone who has anything to donate for sale can drop them into the shop at 52 Green Arbour Road, Thurcroft, from Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 4pm or call 01709 730505.