Trinity's delight at grand haul of donations

In the first three days since the donation centre in Talbot Road, Blackpool reopened, practically 1,000 bags of items were dropped off, with a haul of 280 bags on Monday followed by 194 on Tuesday and 523 on Wednesday – along with more than 20 items of furniture over the same period.

It’s a massive boost for the hospice, whose chain of 17 shops around the Fylde coast has been shut since March, leaving a big hole in its income.

The shops bring in more than £350,000 a year and the hope is that they will start to re-open on June 15.

Trinity Hospice launched an emergency appeal six weeks ago to help plug an estimated £1m gap in funding this year because of the Covid-19 crisis, caused by the retail shutdown and cancellation of fundraising events.

By the start of this week, the appeal had topped £120,000 and is still very much ongoing, with Trinity president Sir Bill Beaumont, president of Trinity and the association Brian House children’s hospice, making the plea: “The hospice needs the help of our local communities more than ever.”

Paul Guest, Trinity and Brian House’s head of retail, said everyone at the Bispham-based palliative care facility was so grateful for the donations of items.

“Thank you everyone,” he said. “We have been overwhelmed with kindness.

“So many people have said they had been patiently saving things up, ready to donate to us, when we had been so worried that some might have been tempted to throw things away during lockdown.

“What a wonderful response so far – keep it coming.

“Every item we can re-sell helps keep hospice care on the Fylde Coast free for all those who need it.

“The first day was manic but hugely enjoyable – we laughed a lot and met some lovely people. Let’s hope we can get back to something like normal business soon.”

The hospice costs more than £10m a year to run, with around £6m coming from charitable donations.

It has enough in reserve to keep going for around a year and a half but even with government help, chief executive David Houston said it is likely the shortfall by the end of the year will be more than £1m.

The donation centre on Talbot Road is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Saturday.