Ruined Flooding caused by wet wipes sees charity shop stock left damaged
A-CHARITY shop is facing a devastating loss of stock after it has been hit by flooding. Daisychain Benevolent Fund, in Church Road, Bishop’s Cleeve, doesn’t yet know the extent of the water damage after a blocked drain overflowed into its basement.
The charity shop has been the village for 10 years and supports the Daisychain Benevolent Fund Trust, a registered not-for-profit community support organisation, whose funds go towards local charities such as Battle-down Children’s Department at Cheltenham General Hospital and the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Shop manager Debbie Stacey had previously called Severn Trent to look at the drains after one of them had become blocked.
But when it rained heavily last week, water from the blocked drain started seeping through the wall into the basement, where the stock is kept.
The basement houses hundreds of bags of winter clothes, Christmas stock and electrical goods, as well as the shop’s own equipment, such as an ironing board.
Debbie said: “It took us nearly a year to sort through all the stock given to us from donations for the Autumn/winter period.
“After doing all that and having all of it be ruined so quickly, it’s very stressful.”
She estimates that at least the bottom layer of bags will be lost to the water
damage. Severn Trent told Debbie that the blockages were caused by wet wipes being flushed down the toilet.
The wet wipes were becoming stuck in the drain and causing the rain to fill the drain and the water to overflow into the basement of the shop.
Along with water in the basement, sewage from the drains also leaked through and caused a smell to develop in the basement.
The flooding was discovered on Friday, July 30, when a trainee assistant manger of the shop went downstairs to pick up extra summer stock for the shop.
When she opened the door to the basement, she saw that dirty water had flowed in and the stench of the room pointed towards sewage in the room as well.
Debbie then rang Severn Trent, who came to attend to the leak two hours later.
Head of Retail for Daisychain Davina Roberts said in a statement: “Our volunteers and staff at the shop have spent many hours sorting and carefully preparing the stock in readiness for the autumn and winter season so that we have a great range of quality items to offer for sale to our loyal customers.
“They are absolutely devastated that this has happened and now have the awful job of making the area accessible and suitable for storage once again.
“We are so grateful for the work that they do in support of the shop and this is really above and beyond any job description.”
Customers can help by donating more winter stock to the shop.
They are absolutely devastated that this has happened
Davina Roberts