VOLUNTEERS at Westbury’s Wiltshire Air Ambulance charity shop, on Maristow Street, are left ‘shocked and gutted’ after news that the shop will close in June, after 22 years of fundraising in the town.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance say that the closure is due to a ‘downturn in retail and costs associated with running retail businesses increasing’.
The charity shop, which has around 26 volunteers, will close on 30th June.
Volunteers spoke to White Horse News on the day the news was released saying, “It is a huge shock for us and for the town and it will have great repercussions for the people in Westbury.
“A lot of people rely on the shop to give their donations and choose Wiltshire Air Ambulance because it is such a worthwhile cause.
“We get the feeling that head office have just decided to ‘drop it’ which is a bad move. We don’t understand why we are being made to close down, yet the shop will remain in Devizes.
“Volunteering is so important to those who help out each week- for some it gets them out of the house and may be the only chance they get to speak to people. It’s a great social hub that people come to, to catch up with the volunteers – some have even labelled it the best charity shop in Westbury.
“Their decision to close needs to be properly explained – what will happen to all of these donations? How will they make the money that we donate to them each year? As volunteers we would love to be able to save the shop, but we don’t know how.
“A lot of people want to help the air ambulance, as it’s so vital, but many people can’t access the head office in Semington, and some don’t have a computer to donate online, so spending money in the shop or putting some change in the pots on the till is all they can do.
“It’s not just the people of Westbury that use the shop, people come from all over, not just from Wiltshire either.”
The shop opened on 15 March 1998 and was run independently by local volunteer, Dot Whitehead, who was a recipient of the Westbury Person of the Year award, run by White Horse News.
Dot died in December 2012, aged 81, and the following year Wiltshire Air Ambulance took over the running of the shop with Dot’s granddaughter Carrie Aldous being appointed as manager.
Wiltshire Air Ambulance chief executive David Philpott said, “It’s been a very difficult decision for the board to make, especially as the shop has been raising funds for our charity since 1998.
“We understand it will be a disappointment for the people of Westbury and the many volunteers who have served there over the years, raising lots of funds for the charity.
“We’d like to thank everyone who has supported the shop since it opened and we hope they will continue to come out to support it between now and the closing date in June.”
Mayor, cllr Mike Sutton, said, “I am very disappointed to hear that the air ambulance shop is to close after so many years and would like to pay tribute to all those staff and supporters who have kept it going for so long and of course all those local persons who contributed through collections or supported in other ways. At this stage I am unaware of the reasons for closure and wonder if it is a purely local factor or part of a larger process.
“The shop has been part of the local community and street scene for many years and the dedication and hard work of the volunteers has been widely acknowledged within the town. We will await further news with interest, but it does raise the question as to whether urgent emergency support should be dependent on voluntary donations.”
Wiltshire Air Ambulance say they have no plans to open further shops and it will be business as usual at its Devizes shop, in Maryport Street.
