Offering sustainable fashion at rock-bottom prices, Rowcroft Hospice is holding an exclusive pop-up sale of pre-loved clothing and accessories on Saturday 27 June. To be held at Rowcroft’s distribution centre drop-off point in Brunel Road, Newton Abbot, from 10am till 2pm, the pop-up sale will raise vital funds for end-of-life patient care in South Devon.
“We’re delighted to be launching this exciting community event,” says Caroline Wannell, Rowcroft’s Head of Retail. “And we’re really looking forward to welcoming everyone along. Our pre-loved sale offers you the chance to treat yourselves to some gorgeous summer clothing and stunning accessories such as bags, shoes and jewellery, all at great prices. Shopping with us is a fantastic way to support patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families in our community, as all proceeds go towards funding expert patient care. It’s also a great way to stock up your sustainable fashion wardrobe; everything at our sale is pre-loved and recycled, and therefore much better for our planet than buying new. So please do spread the word, and join us if you can.”
There will also be a chance to grab a coffee and cake from Ella’s mobile café whilst you browse the rails.
Following significant losses in income since the outbreak of the pandemic, Rowcroft is keen to get back to the job of raising much-needed income for patient care. Three of the charity’s sixteen shops and cafes across South Devon have now re-opened (Totnes, Dartmouth and Paignton furniture and clearance outlet) with reduced opening hours, and the charity is hoping to re-open more shops and cafes over the coming months.
The money raised from Rowcroft’s trading is used to fund high quality end-of-life care for patients and their families across South Devon. Rowcroft cares for all patients — regardless of background, circumstance or diagnosis, including those with COVID-19 — in their own homes and in Rowcroft’s Inpatient Unit in Torquay. Rowcroft’s expert care has been rated as ‘outstanding’ (the highest possible rating) by the Care Quality Commission. The charity’s central philosophy is to put the patients’ choices at the centre of their end-of-life care: this means helping patients to die well, with the dignity and respect that everyone deserves.
“With regard to our pop-up sale and our retail operations, our over-riding priority is the safety of our customers, volunteers and employees,” explains Caroline. “We are following all the latest government guidance to keep everyone safe, including following social distancing rules, ensuring excellent hygiene, quarantining donated items for 72 hours prior to sorting or selling, conducting thorough deep cleaning of our retail outlets, and using appropriate personal protective equipment.
“While we welcome donations of good quality pre-loved items, we kindly ask customers to take these to our Teignmouth Road drop-off point in Torquay (open Tuesdays to Thursdays, 10am to 1pm) rather than to our shops or pop-up sale. When donating goods, it’s important to separate items into different categories, for example one bag for clothing, one bag for bric-a-brac etc, and to place all your items in bags that are securely-tied. And please don’t leave any bags outside any of our shops.
“We really do value all donations. However, the income we usually generate through working with our recycling merchants for items that are not saleable in our shops, is much less certain during these unprecedented times. Therefore, we kindly request that people take lower quality items to recycling points, rather than to our drop-off point, as it may become a cost to the hospice to send these items to landfill and this will reduce our funds for patient care.”
Volunteers form the backbone of the charity’s retail workforce, but with a large proportion of volunteers in the ‘self-isolating or shielding’ category, Rowcroft is appealing for more volunteers to come forward to help out.
“We are so grateful to our amazing volunteers for all their help in running our many shops and distribution centre,” says Caroline. “We simply couldn’t operate without them. Volunteering is a great thing to do to help raise funds for such a worthwhile cause.”
For further details about Rowcroft’s shops and volunteering, or for more information about Rowcroft Hospice, please see: www.rowcrofthospice.org.uk or call 01803 210800.
You can join us on our social media pages, follow us on Facebook or Twitter and keep up to date with whats going on in South Devon.
Got a news story, blog or press release that you’d like to share or want to advertise with us? Contact us
