Chair of the Board of Trustees at St. Rocco’s and Lymm resident Norman Banner was on hand to cut the ribbon and declare the shop open officially and raise a toast with the volunteers to its success.

St. Rocco’s has had a presence in the village before the first hospice was even open, with volunteers doing everything they could to fundraise so that hospice care would be available to the people of Warrington. They are delighted to be moving into the new premises which are bigger, lighter and far more welcoming for customers.

“We’re really thrilled,” said volunteer link manager Betty Hughes, “We have been waiting for this for a long time. In the other shop there were steep stairs both at the entrance and inside. This shop is lovely and much more accessible for everyone. There are even a couple of parking spaces outside so it should be much easier for all our supporters to drop off items for us to sell.”

The new stock reflects the upmarket layout of the shop, with designer clothing and high end items on display.

“Staff and volunteers have worked really hard to get the shop ready in quite a short space of time. We’ve tried to ensure that everything is displayed well and we’re sure that customers will have a much better shopping experience in our new shop,” explained Helen Murray, Retail Operations Manager who has overseen the project.

“We’d like to say a really big thank you to all the volunteers and all the members of staff who have pulled out all the stops to get the shop ready for opening in time for the Lymm Festival. Our shops make a significant contribution to supporting patient care at St. Rocco’s and we hope that our Lymm shop, a well-established retail fixture in the village, will go from strength to strength in its new location,” Said Eric Russell, St. Rocco’s Retail Manager.

The shop will be open on Saturday and on Sunday for the Lymm Historic Transport Day this week and its regular opening hours are 10am -4pm, Monday to Saturday.