How to donate your pre-loved items to our shops

Your valuable donations help St. Luke’s Hospice continue providing palliative and end of life care to local people and their families. 

If you would like to donate items, we ask that you please call your nearest shop or our Warehouse (01268 522741 or [email protected]) in advance as they will be able to tell you how many items they are able to accept at that time. Doing this will allow us to make the donation process as smooth as possible for you and our shop staff and volunteers.

If you are eligible to Gift Aid your donations, you can complete a Gift Aid declaration form when making your donation to your chosen shop and we can claim an extra 25% on top of the value of your donated items that we are able to sell.  

Donations we can and cannot accept

As a retail operation we must comply with specific rules & regulations concerning what we can & cannot sell.

Items we can accept are:

• Clothing, Shoes, Bags, Belts (faulty clothes such as items with missing buttons and damaged zips are also welcome)
• Books, CDs, DVDs, Records
• Furniture (all upholstered furniture must have a 1988 Fire Regulations label attached)
• Collectibles
• Antiques
• Stamp Collections
• Militaria
• Jewellery
• PC/Console Games
• Electrical items – TVs, HiFi’s, Amps, Vacuum cleaners, Fridges/Freezers, Cookers, Washing Machines, Dishwashers, light fittings, toasters etc
• Tools, Garden Equipment,
• Bric-a-Brac – Crockery, Glassware, Home-wares Pictures, Prints & Mirrors
• Toys, games, bikes & jigsaws

Sorry, for Health & Safety or economic reasons, we are unable to accept the following items:

• Upholstered furniture without 1988 Fire Regulation Labels
• Any Gas Appliance
• Protective head wear (Cycle/Crash/Horse-riding helmets etc)
• Baby car or toddler booster seats/chairs
• VHS video cassettes
• Knives/Sharps
• Display units more than 3’ wide
• Pianos/Organs
• Anything deemed unsafe/unfit for its original purpose

Furniture is collected on a ‘Drivers Discretion’ basis, as they can physically see the item. If you need a definitive answer, prior to our van arriving, please photograph the item(s) and email to [email protected]. 

All donations need to be in saleable condition (with the exception of clothes & materials having re-cycling potential). 

Whilst we try to be as obliging as possible it is the responsibility of the householder to ensure that bulky/large items have unhampered access to our vehicle – we regret that Hospice staff and volunteers are not authorised to remove doors, windows or any other fixed furniture, or move items that could potentially damage your property or cause injury to themselves. It would be helpful if you could provide relevant information at time of booking an appointment or in store at point of purchase to assist these situations.

We aim for all items sold in our shops to be in a saleable condition and free from any prevailing odour – this means we are unable to accept soft furnishings that are suffering from effects of damp, mould, chemical / perfume spillage or any type of animal or smoke residue.

Any questions? 

Please contact our Retail team on 01268 522741 or email [email protected]. 

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