Further woe for Adderbury's Katharine House Hospice as furniture shop closes

Since 2008 the shop has been selling a wide range of quality used furniture, but it will now close this week.

Chris Higgins, marketing and communications manager at Katharine House said: “As a local independent charity, the aim of our shops is to raise money to run the hospice and support local families who urgently need specialist end-of-life care.

"Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and the hard work of the retail team, the furniture shop has not been able to generate funds in this difficult retail climate and we have made the difficult decision to close the shop.

"Efforts instead will put into growing our online retail activities, and expanding our online shop and ebay store, which you can visit through the hospice’s website."

The hospice’s other six shops are still open in Banbury's Bridge Street, Bicester, Brackley, Chipping Norton, Moreton in Marsh and Shipston on Stour, and sell a range of new and used items to support local people living with a life-limiting illness.

Furniture shop manager, Joe Gates thanked the customers and volunteers who have helped raise money to provide Katharine House’s services: “Over the last 11 years, we’ve enjoyed wonderful support from everyone who has donated to or bought from our furniture shop.

"You have made a real difference and helped make every moment matter to local families living with a life-limiting illness.

"Thank you.”

Every year Katharine House’s shops raise almost £1 million (£914k) of the hospice’s £4.8m running costs, however, the hospice still faces a budgeted deficit of more than £435,000 this year due to increased needs for services, rising healthcare costs, and unsustainable funding from the government.

In order to support the 900 local families who already use Katharine House’s services, and care for hundreds more who cannot access services at present, the hospice is working hard to increase income from its fundraising and retail operations.

It is also lobbying government and commissioning groups to call for a change in the broken hospice funding model which provides less than a quarter of the hospice’s costs.