Cosham charity shop will reopen for big clearance sale before closing permanently

The Wessex Cancer Trust charity shop in Cosham will open its doors on July 1 to clear its stock before shutting for good in mid-July.

It comes after the support centre in the same unit was closed in December last year, leaving staff, volunteers and clients across Portsmouth devastated.

The centre was earmarked for closure a week before a £600,000 emergency appeal was launched to save the charity as a whole.

Jackie Jones, who was a volunteer for the last two years after she retired from head of HR at Jobsite UK, previously told The News she was ‘disgusted’ by the decision to leave Cosham out of the appeal.

She said: ‘It was absolutely appalling. When we were told it was closing we were sent an email and there was no warning. Then we find out about the appeal from an email despite people getting made redundant and clients knowing the services will end.’

Wessex Cancer Trust’s chief executive Cait Allen apologised on behalf of the charity if the move came across as insensitive.

Portsmouth volunteers have since set up their own support group for people with cancer and family members.

The charity shop in Cosham, and other branches includes Portchester, will be open from Monday to Saturday between 10am to 4.30pm and new safety measures have been introduced including customer number limits, plastic till screens and cleaning stations.

Mark Ellis, Wessex Cancer Trust’s retail manager, added: ‘The safety of our shops teams and customers is our top priority, so we’ve made some changes to how the shops are run.

With people using lockdown to have a good clear-out at home, we’re expecting an influx of donations and therefore will be limiting drop-offs to between 9am and 10am - before the shops open and all donations will be quarantined for 72 hours.

‘It’s more important than ever to support your local charity shops because most of our fundraising and events have been postponed or cancelled due to the pandemic.’

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