A group of dedicated Harold Wood volunteers launched a campaign on Wednesday 6th September to raise the final £50,000 needed to reach their target of £1 million since they started fundraising 24 years ago for Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, which supports families caring for a child with a life threatening or terminal illness.
The volunteers, who run the Harold Wood charity shop at 33 Station Road, were joined by Councillor Linda Van den Hende, the Mayor of Havering, who officially launched the campaign, along with shop staff, adjoining shop keepers and local families supported by Rainbow Trust.
The group first began after Pauline Obee, heard a radio interview in 1993 with Rainbow Trust’s founder Bernadette Cleary. Inspired by what she heard, she and her friend, the late John Penrose established the Harold Wood Friends Group to support the charity.
The group started fundraising when they were offered an empty shop for three months and initially held jumble sales in the shop two days a week. Now, 24 years later, the shop and friends group are still going strong having raised £950,000 to date.
