My Day My Life - Charity Star

Sheila Hallas MBE is a dedicated lady, she's the founder and the honorary organiser of the Combined Charities Christmas Shops Association which this year is celebrating its 40 anniversary. Tiffany Henry went to see Sheila to talk to her about the charity, and what life's like at this very busy time of year.

I met Sheila at the Wilmslow shop and as we walked around main thing that struck me was the range of cards and gifts available. This year 55 charities are represented in their six outlets, with 40 more on their website. As well as most of the major charities there are plenty local causes to support including our three local hospices (St Ann's, East Cheshire and Francis House), there's the New Start (transplant centre), David Lewis Centre, Seashell Trust, Christies and the Genesis Appeal and many, many more.

I asked Shelia how it all started "I was in an antique shop in Alderley Edge and happened to comment that I couldn't find anywhere locally that sold charity Christmas cards, the lady in the shop said to me - you can have this shop as I'm leaving. Having only recently moved to the area, I didn't know many people and wondered how I could possible get it all off the ground. I checked the local press to find out who was doing what, contacted some local charities and opened the first shop with about 8 or 10 organisations selling their cards. That first year we raised over £750 pounds. Each year we opened in a different location (wherever there was an empty shop we could use) so ten years after we started I decided to try and find a permanent base and after a bit of persistence managed to secure space in Wilmslow Library.

My days are varied and start early when I pack my car with stock and advertising boards, I may then need to collect customer orders from the printers (we offer a range of services including overprinting on cards and stationary). I work closely with my colleague Jill Dodson, whose help value enormously and our responsibility is the Wilmslow shop. The other shops are managed by volunteers who all have with a similar mind set as myself, they believe in what we're doing and support it wholeheartedly. Each day the shops are manned by a team from one of the charities selling cards so I show the new teams around the shop explaining how everything works and about stock management and recording sales. Once everything is up and running I carry on with what ever else needs doing, I work from home and there are always phone messages to answer or stock to order and price. I may have to deliver to one of the other shops and I am also responsible for the accounts, though I always try and find some time in my day to walk my dogs and enjoy some fresh air.

Of course the six weeks or so that the shops are open are extremely busy as it's a short window in which to sell as much as we can. However there is still plenty to do over the rest of the year. January is busy as the accounts need finalising and funds paid out. We need to raise funds to cover our costs such as rent and publicity so to do this we offer a great range of gifts and stocking fillers which Jill and I source from gift fairs at the NEC in February and Harrogate in July, which we then buy in August and from then it all starts to get busy once more.

It's important to remember that the whole operation is run by a great team of volunteers and that all the charities represented receive 100% of the money raised. Some of the large retailers which sell charity cards actually give much less that the price of the cards to the charity concerned sometimes they can take up to 75% of the revenue for themselves". It's obvious from talking to Sheila that this is a role she loves and from which she gets immense satisfaction. "I do really enjoy it, I work with a lovely group of people, and it shows you that you don't have to get paid to get job satisfaction" Over the years the commitment of Sheila and her team has raised over £3.75 million and her dream this year is to reach a target of £4 million which would be fantastic.

You can find shops in the Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Altrincham, Hale and Sale Libraries and the Knutsford Civic Centre. Alternatively you can order on-line at www.christmas-cards.org.uk