The Mayor and Volunteers Celebrate £1 Million Milestone
The Mayor of Woodbridge joined a group of volunteers at the Woodbridge 41 Club Charity Christmas Card Shop, on 20th November, to celebrate raising £1,000,000 for charity. The cards have been sold in various pop-up shops over the past 31 years.
The shop has supported over 50 charities ranging from large national ones such as Barnardos and RNLI to local charities including Suffolk Punch Trust, EACH, Just 42 and many more.
Currently the shop is in the old HSBC premises, 37 Thoroughfare, Woodbridge and is open 10 am to 4 pm during the week and 9.30 am to 5 pm on Saturday. It is also open on Sundays in the run up to Christmas.
Roger Parker has been managing the popular shop, since 1993. “I’m very proud that we have raised £1 million. It’s something I’ve had in my sights and been talking about for 15 years!”
“I enjoy working with so many different charities, both big and small. There are some wonderful causes out there and because we have very few running costs, almost the entire turnover goes to them.”
“It’s a big team effort running the shop and I’m very grateful to all the volunteers who help in the shop, some of whom have been involved for thirty years.”
“Over the years many landlords and agents have been kind enough to let us use their empty premises. As a result we have been found in many of the shops in the Thoroughfare, St Mary’s Church Centre and the library.”
“We’re also very lucky to have lots of regular customers who come back year after year. I think it’s a bit of a game for them, tracking us down and working out which empty shop we’ve taken over!”
The shop is open until 16th December and probably has the widest selection of charity Christmas cards in Suffolk.