AFTER thirteen weeks of being closed, St David's Hospice’s donation centres will re-open next week.

From Monday (June 22), a new booking system is in place for the safe drop-off of donated goods at the three donation centres in Mochdre, Gaerwen and Llandudno.

The Hospice shops rely solely on the donation of saleable items to raise funds to care for their patients and their families, who are living with a life limiting illness.

Last month the charity asked its supporters to take part in a ‘Big Spring Clean’, putting donations to one side until it re-opened and the response so far has been 'terrific' say staff.

Head of Retail and Facilities, Janet Magill said: “All 26 of our St David’s Hospices shops rely heavily on the Donation Centres to collect donations and to organise stock before it is delivered to each store.

"We are extremely grateful to everyone who has saved their items for us, to be able to sell these items in the future will be a vital part of our recovery plan.

"The slots are filling up quickly, but don’t worry we plan to continue to run this system for the next two weeks, after which we will review it.

“We are following all government advice and social distancing measures are in place. The booking system is in operation to make sure donations can be dropped off as safely as possible and we’d ask that you only arrive during your slot time. Unfortunately, we will have to turn people away without a booking."

If you are a UK taxpayer, you can sign up to the hospice Retail Gift Aid scheme on arrival and your donations of goods will be worth an extra 25% to the charity when they're sold.

A Gift Aid donation form, the locations of the centres and also a list of items can and can’t accept can be found at https://stdavidshospice.org.uk/recoveryfund/the-big-spring-clean/

All funds raised through the sale of donated goods will go towards the £1 million deficit St David’s Hospice faces by the year end.

To book your drop off slot at one of the three donation centres, call 01492 877701 (The centres in Mochdre, Llandudno and Gaerwen will be open 9am– 3.30pm, Monday to Friday).