As many of our supporters and followers know, when Covid 19 entered our lives back in 2020, all events that we had planned, had to be cancelled.  Every patient event, parliamentary meetings, run, swim, coffee morning, dinners, meetings with our own colleagues, all on hold.  

Melanoma UK has opened its first charity shop to increase awareness of this devastating disease and increase donations to support the melanoma patient community.

Like many small organisations, we went through a very worrying time.  We had so many plans and it was devastating to have to cancel so much – I don’t use that word lightly, we were truly devastated.  We continued to work throughout every lockdown and whilst we couldn’t open our office, our phone lines remained open, we continued to make ourselves available to patients online and via all our social media channels.  Our supporters continue to support our work and whilst our fundraising did take a big hit, we are still here and we are grateful to everyone for their continued support. 

At the front of our office, we had a meeting room which we used to use regularly.  We had team meetings in there, meetings with patients, volunteers, our contacts in industry, etc.  Even after lockdown ended, that space stayed empty.  We had become so used to using Zoom and embracing technology, that the space there was just empty and cold.  So, I had one of my ideas……… Now usually, when I have an idea and I speak to Di, she puts her head in her hands and wonders what I’m going to suggest.  However, this time, she agreed.

We don’t own our office so I asked the landlord for permission to change it to a small shop.  And here we are, we opened this week following a lot of very generous and kind donations from the local community, friends and some of our wonderful patients. 

If you are local to us, please do call in and have a look at what we have on offer. 

We’ve done our best to make sure that we are selling good quality, clean items and so far we have had some amazing feedback.  We will be able to share items online as well, so watch out for this coming on our social media sites. 

As always, we are here for our patients and families – we are only ever at the end of a phone or an email.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Gill & Di