A TEAM of dedicated volunteers at a much-loved charity shop are celebrating after a local business offered them free accommodation for a year so that vital fundraising can continue.

The Hospice of the Valleys shop in Blaenavon had been facing imminent closure after the charity pulled the plug earlier recently.

The premises, on Broad Street, has been raising funds for the charity for the last fourteen years and currently employs a team of seven volunteers.

Only last year the shop underwent renovations and a few months ago was given a make over in the way goods were displayed.

Now the delighted ladies have been told that a former wool shop directly opposite their premises is theirs for at least a year thanks to the generosity of a local businesswoman.

A spokeswoman for the volunteers told the Chronicle, ‘We are over the moon, everybody in Blaenavon is thrilled for us. It brings a bit of life to the town and we can now carry on with our fundraising.’

The organisation has four other shops, in Abertillery, Ebbw Vale, Brynmawr and Tredegar. Originally known as “Hospice of the Marches”, the organisation was started in Hereford in 1985. By 2000, the organisation employed several nurses, a social worker and a fundraiser and had changed its name to ‘Hospice of the Valleys’ reflecting its aim to care for people in the valleys of south east Wales.