Hospice in Christmas drive to boost funds

Staff at a charity shop are encouraging parents to bring their children to visit Santa this Christmas and help raise funds.

Barnsley Hospice has nine shops across the area and for the first time is putting a Santa’s grotto in one of them – the Mexborough branch.

Parents will be asked to make a donation towards the work of the hospice, if they can, rather than there being a charge.

Shop manager Debbie Roberts said: “We’ve been busy preparing the shop ready to welcome Santa and it looks very festive.

“We hope local families will come in and enjoy some Christmas magic while also doing their bit to support a great cause.”

Barnsley Hospice, at Gawber, provides inpatient and day care for anyone in Barnsley with a life-threatening condition, not only cancer patients.

It also offers care in patients’ own homes as well as a range of other services. All care is free to the patient.

The hospice needs to raise nearly £2m a year to stay open so relies heavily on income from its shops which last year came to around £890,000.

Santa will be at the Mexborough shop, High Street, from noon to 2.30pm on the following dates: November 26 and December 2, 10 and 16.

Children can also visit the hospice’s Santa’s grotto at The Alhambra shopping centre in Barnsley town centre.

Tickets cost £2 and all proceeds go to the charity. This grotto is open on Wednesdays from 11am to 5pm and Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 4pm between November 23 and December 17 inclusive.

From December 19 children can visit every day between 11am and 4pm and from 11am to 3pm on Christmas Eve.

Items can be donated at any of the shops between 9am and 4pm or left in the shed at the back of the hospice.