My plea to John Healey - help high street charity shops to survive: Christa Ackroyd

Second hand markets, flea markets, any kind of market are among my favourite leisure time haunts. I am also lucky enough to live near what most would consider an affluent Yorkshire town or two where even the dozen or more charity shops are choc a block with labels I could never afford hence my new leather trousers (don’t judge) cream silk shirt and handmade handbag bought in the last two weeks.

Even my grandchildren love a good charity shop rummage where they have bought books, shoes, clothes, and those ridiculously priced furry trendy toys of the moment. My daughter is the walking epitome of designer, she being skinny enough to fit into it .. most of it from charity shops. We are not alone. On a weekend especially they are full of browsers and buyers alike. But donors, maybe not so much.

Today we look at how the current cost of living crisis is hitting everyone in their pockets, even charities. Considering we are a country that relies on charitable goodwill this column is to appeal to those who have the purse strings to make small adjustments which would see us all survive. In some cases literally.

I write that purposefully in the hope that at least one of our South Yorkshire readers ensures that our new Chancellor of the Exchequer sees my comments first hand and extends his plan to scrap business rates for small high street retailers to charity shops too. Without them this country, and yes our high streets, would be nothing, not simply because of the hundreds and hundreds of empty shops that would follow, but because of the vital life or death work they support.

I am certainly not smiling at the news that two leading charities with hundreds of shops between them have announced they are struggling, which is bad news for all of us not simply because if they rely on us relying on them quite literally for the clothes on our backs (some do) but also because their work has enabled incredible advances both in medical and pastoral care.

Where would cancer research be without Cancer Research UK? Where would the money come from which has led to advancements in heart surgery and mortality outcomes without the British Heart Foundation, the biggest retailing charity that warns it is to close hundreds of its stores? I could go on.

Dr Barnardo’s is close to my heart being adopted for children not so lucky. Age UK and the Salvation Army help those who feel alone and vulnerable. Sue Ryder has the highest number of shops helping to provide hospice care and together with Oxfam those charities alone amount to a massive 2,500 stores nationwide, many of whom are struggling with increased rents, business rates, staff costs, national insurance rises (even though their life blood is volunteers) and storage prices for the goods they receive.

That’s before they sell a single item. And that impacts all of us. If they go our country will literally be a poorer place and who would be asked to pick up the costs, may I suggest Mr Chancellor, the Government would.

There are many other reasons charity shops are struggling. Firstly, the online selling platforms has meant donations left over from would be Vinted or Ebay sellers are often less or of a lower quality. They have also increased their prices accordingly which means bread and butter garments can be bought just as cheaply new in the sales or the eclectic aisles of well know supermarkets. Charity shops are no longer necessarily a cheap alternative which I suggest for run of the mill items they take a look at. Secondly, people are hanging on to what they have, unable to afford the luxury of replacement.

So we can all help where we can and decide to declutter as we used to and send not sell our unwanted items. As I discovered with a friend whose cancer treatment funded by charitable research, a little thought can save not only the high street but enable people to live longer. That’s the serious part. The other is just fun for me at least though I realise for others it is their worst nightmare.

I have far too many clothes, always have, always will. There was a time when I needed them for work – you got through a lot of jackets when you are on the telly every night. Now I don’t have that excuse.

And yes there were a couple of charity shops that benefited from dozens upon dozens of ‘newsreader’ garments that were never quite my more bohemian style but were part of the uniform I wore which was far more sober than my usual garb but reflected, I hope, the seriousness of the job in hand.

No cleavage, no short skirts, the occasional splash of colour and no loud dangly earrings which I now favour, not just for the nervous breakdown they would have given the sound technician but also they would have been a distraction from the often devastating news we were there to impart. Every single one of those jackets found their way to a charity shop.

About ten bin bags coupled with every high heeled shoe I ever wore bar one when after Covid I discovered I could no longer walk in them. The jackets especially were gratefully received. One charity shop even jokingly put a sign on the window saying ‘As worn on TV’ But if they funded the work of the local hospices they support I gave them gladly. They represented what was, not is.

But now they are struggling to survive as are many the charities they help fund. At my own favoured charity donations have dwindled to almost nothing. They are increasing in the run up to Christmas but so has the need of the homeless people we help.

Of course we don’t need all that we have. That is true for most of us but there are many people out there who have little and who need every ounce of help we can give them. So have a sort out and get giving. It is good for the soul and good for those who need our support.

And Mr Healey, sir, Mr Chancellor, fellow Yorkshireman please have a look at more help for charities. Together we can weather the storm. You know it makes sense. You know it is the right thing to do for all of us.