PEOPLE rose to the occasion and bought Christmas goods from the pop-up good causes shop in Woking before it had to shut at the start of the new lockdown

Sales on Monday (2 November) alone totalled more than £2,000, as the public snapped up festive items ranging from cards to candles.

The Cards for Good Causes open in the Octagon Room in Christ Church, Jubilee Square, last week, supporting 30 charities. Organisations benefiting include the Friends of Woking Community Hospital, White Lodge Centre at Chertesy and Woking and Sam Beare Hospice.

National fundraising charities include Cancer Research UK, British Heart Foundation, Macmillan Cancer Support, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Epilepsy Action, Barnado’s, Diabetes UK and British Red Cross.

The organiser, Jon Allan, welcomed the Woking Mayor Beryl Hunswick to view the goods on sale on Thursday last week.

“The public have been brilliant in supporting the shop,” he said. “We have a large, airy room on the first floor which has enabled us to lay everything out with lots of space to enable social distancing.

“There is a good variety of Christmas goods for all ages from mugs to tea towels, Advent calendars, candles and stocking fillers.”

An examples of the cards on sale is a selection raising money for the community hospital and the NHS. They are priced at £4 or less for a pack of 10, with more than 70% of the purchase price going to the friends organisation.

The shop closed after yesterday’s session and hopes to reopen on Thursday 3 December. As in all retail outlets, customers will be required to wear face coverings.

If the lockdown is not extended, the opening hours will be 10am to 4pm Monday to Saturday, until Wednesday 16 December.