Lutterworth & District Shops Ltd:

A Brief History:

The Lutterworth & District Branch of Leukaemia Research was started in 1971 to raise funds through raffles, jumble sales, and coffee mornings. The Branch activities steadily increased, along with funds raised each year. In 1999 the Branch raised £14,000 mostly through Jumble sales, but now with other added activities such as the Blue Peter bike rides and indoor car boot sales. The donations of clothes, shoes, bric-a-brac, toys, small furniture, records and tapes were dropped off by the public at houses belonging to any of the current branch committee members. These donations would often build up to unmanageable sized piles in between the various Jumble sales. Obviously sorting and grading these donations was also becoming a problem due to the sheer volumes involved.

In 1999 a small shop in Lutterworth became available so Mrs Maureen Sheasby, (Mo), and Mrs Chris Ingham, discussed the viability and benefits of taking over the lease on the shop. Obviously this was also discussed with Leukaemia Research Head Office in London. Head Office felt that charity shops in general were something that would stigmatise the charity. However, Chris and Mo felt that the shop could be the answer to various problems including the volumes of donations so decided to take over the lease on a six week trial. 

Head Office were still reticent, so the lease, all utility bills, would be in the personal names of two members of the committee,  Chris (Chairwoman), Mo (Vice-chairwoman), and who would become trustees and managers. Mo, Chris, and several of the committee members volunteering their time. The shop opened five days a week Tuesday to Saturday 10:30am to 4:30pm. After only a few weeks the interest and the demand from the public meant the shop opening hours were increased to 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday. The shop was a great success and after the six weeks of being open the lease was taken on a permanent basis.

A local businessman in Lutterworth, ran a book barn and gave all his proceeds to charity. When he became too ill to continue he asked Mo and Chris if they would like to take over the barn and its thousands of books to sell for our charity. This was a mammoth task but soon became a success too, with donations of books being taken to the shop and to the barn.

The shop, run by Chris and Mo, was a friendly and welcoming community focal point for the Charity. The public could now drop off donations, browse, and hopefully purchase in the shop at the same time, and of course, like most charity shops in those days, a lot of coffee was drunk along with the chats.

The shop was successful but the small size and limited space was preventing further growth. Lesley Shaw, who had been part of the branch for many years and a previous part time manager took over as a full time shop manager.

In 2008 the Branch made the decision to look for larger premises. The potential for growth and greater fund raising was clear. A shop became available in the Station Road car park, an ideal central location. It had office space and stock area on the first floor and a much bigger shop area on the ground floor (Shop 1, 33a Station Road). Anne Everett, a volunteer since 2006, joined the management team as a trustee and part-time manager. Again the trustees had to take personal responsibilities for the shop.

The management team of Chris, Ann, and Lesley, through their dedication, drive, and business acumen have taken the Branch from one small shop to two very successful shops. The team and volunteers ran Shop 1 with a happy atmosphere and was so successful that within two years the trustees proposed to the committee that the Branch take on a second shop premises.

The existing barn was not really suitable as a retail outlet and could only open for a few hours three times a week. The idea was that the new shop, Shop 2, would sell furniture, books, DVD’s, CD’s etc. A shop premises at Bell Street became available, very close to Shop 1, which also had office and storage upstairs and retail space on the ground floor. The trustees again took personal responsibility for all aspects of Shop 2. Eventually a van was purchased to allow Shop 2 to do collections and deliveries of furniture and quickly the Furniture and Book shop also became a success.

In 2012 Mrs Chris Ingham received her M.B.E. for services to our charity.

In 2013 we expanded into a barn near to the two shops, to be able to store the furniture needed to sell in the Furniture and Book Shop. We have now moved the warehouse to bigger premises, and this will give us a third outlet for sales.

Lutterworth & District Shops Ltd, is an independent Limited by Guarantee Company to formed to raise funds under licence for Blood Cancer UK.

The trustees are also unpaid directors of the company, Mrs Christine Ingham M.B.E., Mrs Ann Everett, Mrs Lesley Shaw.

To date the Lutterworth & District  Branch and the Lutterworth & District Shops have donated over £1,6 Million.

Our two charity shops and the warehouse are unique as they are the only ones raising funds for Blood Cancer UK. All profit raised from our shops, is donated directly to Blood Cancer UK