Strictly star joins in shop’s birthday party
Sebastian’s Trust patron Mike Bushell helps store celebrate its first year
FORMER Strictly Come Dancing contestant and BBC sports presenter Mike Bushell joined volunteers and friends of Sebastian’s Action Trust to celebrate the one-year anniversary of a Newbury store.
The trust is a regional charity that supports more than 600 families in Berkshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey and Buckinghamshire with seriously-ill children.
All proceeds generated by Bas Books & Home, a Kennet Shopping centre retailer, go towards the trust.
The shop, a volunteer-driven initiative, opened last September and operations had been hit by pandemic restrictions.
Mr Bushell is one of the trust’s patrons and visited the Newbury store last week to celebrate its milestone.
He praised the environmental and charity ethos of the
trust and its store.
He said: “It’s such a wonderful charity, because it provides homes, places to stay – almost like a holiday break – for people with children who have got life-limiting illnesses.
“Those families are sometimes desperate for help, support, a break.
“Seeing this open, this amazing shop, which, after a year, has done so well, despite the Covid pandemic – that’s what struck me, how well it’s done.
“The amazing people of West Berkshire and Newbury bring so much stuff in that otherwise would have gone to landfill.
“Furniture, toys, so much plastic that would have otherwise gone to landfill – it has another use for these things, and I’m just blown away by how big the shop is.
“To think it’s all recycled is just brilliant – we’ve got so much in society that would last us for generations already-made, so we don’t need to go and buy new stuff.”
The trust’s fundraising communications officer Abby Hurst was at hand to discuss the shop’s progress.
She emphasised that the event was a celebration of the trust’s activities, as well as the hard work of Bas Books & Home volunteers.
She said: “We’re just celebrating our volunteers as well, because lots of them have been with us for a year as well.
“We’ve been doing really well, we’re really lucky to get inundated with furniture, which is the main part of our store.
“We’ve got a lovely bookshop, which is really popular with the local community.”
Also present was Amanda Walburn-Green and her daughter Georgia, who has been helped by the trust.
She said: “My daughter, Georgia, is 10 years old, and was diagnosed with a brain tumour when she was six.
“Her chances of survival were quite limited.
“Sebastian’s Action Trust supported us throughout Georgia’s illness.
“It provided somewhere safe and special we could go and play, which was really important when Georgia finished treatment, when she needed somewhere quiet.
“It’s quite tough having a child with a rare disability. You can feel quite isolated.
“While hospitals are there to do the medical stuff, you don’t have much support in terms of care and a break.”