Speen Helping Hospices launches an online shop

Speen Helping Hospices (SHH) is a small voluntary group run by a team of committed women from Speen and North Dean and surrounding villages in Buckinghamshire to fundraise for four local hospices - Helen House for Children, Rennie Groves Hospice Care, South Bucks Hospice at Home and Florence Nightingale in Aylesbury. It was set up in 2001 and has raised more than £100,000 since then.

As a result of lockdown this year, the activities for fund raising had to be dramatically changed. They were approached by a few people asking if they were planning to fundraise for the hospices by making and selling face masks. "We said that we would be very happy to do this if there was a reasonable demand," Gráinne Suter Chair of Speen Helping Hospices said. "There certainly was! By early July they had sold 200 masks and raised £1,000. Up to November 2020 the amount is more than £5,000."

One of their major events is an annual Christmas market held in November. Local artisan traders would normally take a stall and sell their produce and members of SHH would also produce Christmas gift merchandise. Unfortunately, Lockdown 2 meant the event was cancelled.

An online shop was quickly developed and started its operation on the 11 November. The SHH Shop is evolving all the time and local businesses are now involved, promoting their products and making a donation on sales made through the SHH online shop to the fundraising group.

Local businesses include: a chocolate supplier, wine company, artisan cane and rush maker, wood carver and antiques business with more joining the sales platform.

The objective now is to maintain the shop all year round as an additional way of fundraising

Find out more at www.shh-shop.org