Tŷ Hafan staff, volunteers and supporters will be coming together in Lampeter this Saturday morning (14 Dec) to celebrate the opening of the charity’s new shop in the town.
Local family 18-month-old Nel Humphreys, her big sister Maisie, 10, and their parents Cerys and Andrew will be guests of honour at the opening ceremony which will start at 10.30am.
The family, from Aberystwyth, have been supported by Tŷ Hafan for the past year as Nel was born with the rare condition Wolf Hirschhorn Syndrome.
“Tŷ Hafan is the first organisation we’ve found that is consistent and 100% there for us,” says Cerys. “And Tŷ Hafan really cares about Maisie as well. When we first accessed support from Tŷ Hafan it was such a relief to be a part of something so special.”
Also joining them for the official opening of the new shop which is located at Unit 3, 34 & 35 High Street, Lampeter, SA48 7BB will be Cor Meibion Cwmann who will be singing Christmas carols from 10.30am to 11am.
Melanie Sage, Head of Retail for Tŷ Hafan will then open proceedings at 11am to be followed by a brief testimonial from Cerys Humphreys about the life-changing support that she and her family receive from Tŷ Hafan. Maisie and Nel Humphreys will then cut the ribbon and Tŷ Hafan’s new shop will be formally declared open for business.
Finally the junior choir from Ysgol Pedr will then entertain shoppers singing a selection of Christmas songs from 11.15am.
Maree Thomas, Regional Sales Manager for Tŷ Hafan, said:
“We are very excited to open our new, larger store in Lampeter and very much looking forward to welcoming existing and new customers and supporters alike.
“When a child’s life will be short, Tŷ Hafan will walk alongside that family throughout that child’s life, death and beyond. Every single person who shops with us, donates their preloved items to us and volunteers for in our lovely new Lampeter shop will be directly helping us to do this.
“In the last year alone, our old Lampeter store received and processed 6,000 bags of donations from a very generous 2,900 local donors.
“On top of this our wonderful team of volunteers have given us 2,550 volunteer hours and by recycling unsalable goods, we have kept around four tonnes of clothing, shoes, bric a brac and books from going to landfill.
“Our original store, which was located just across the road from our new one, opened in 2005 and has always been well supported and was an important part of the local community.
“We are looking forward to building on this amazing legacy in our new store where everyone is guaranteed a similarly warm welcome and great customer service. We are also particularly proud of our new store’s excellent selection of crafting and haberdashery supplies.”
