St Cuthbert’s Hospice has opened its first ever clothing bank in a bid to generate more donations. Space for the clothing bank was kindly offered by Poplar Tree Garden Centre after they discovered the Hospice were exploring ways to increase donations for their charity shops. Then local estate agent J W Wood generously offered to pay for the clothing bin manufacturing costs to help save St Cuthbert’s from doing so.

The clothing bank can be found at the entrance of Poplar Tree Garden Centre, Shincliffe, and any donations will then be sold in the hospice's eight shops across the county. All proceeds from the charity shops go towards helping the Hospice to care for people living with life limiting illnesses, as well as supporting their families.

Kay Carrick, Senior Donor Development Fundraiser said: “We are incredibly grateful to both local businesses for coming together to support the Hospice in this way. The success of our charity shops is entirely due to the generosity of the general public, kindly donating their pre-loved quality goods.”

"Having the clothing bank in such a great location will enable our supporters in the area to easily donate during Poplar Tree’s opening hours. Many visitors to the garden centre will see the donation point when visiting and hopefully think of us when having a clear out. We can’t thank Poplar Tree Garden Centre enough for allowing us to use this space.”

Caroline Walker at Poplar Tree said: “We try to support the Hospice as much as we can throughout the year such as sponsoring their raffle and donating a percentage of proceeds from our Christmas Fair too. It’s a genuine pleasure to be able to support the Hospice with the clothing bank and help to increase donations. The bank has been in place for a few days and already it’s half full.”

The clothing bank will be emptied regularly by St Cuthbert’s volunteer van drivers, meaning the donated goods can be sorted and distributed to the shops as quickly as possible.

Richard Johnson, Operations Director at JW Wood said, “We have supported St Cuthbert’s Hospice in many ways over the years and are thrilled to help them yet again with this important retail initiative. We hope that many people choose to support the Hospice as they are such a vital charity in our region and one which is close to our hearts”.