SULLY-BASED children’s hospice, Tŷ Hafan has suffered a major water leak in its Barry High Street charity shop - flooding the shop floor and leaving the ceiling partially collapsed.

Tŷ Hafan’s shop was set to re-open for trading on Monday, July 27 for the first time since the lockdown, but days before opening the doors, the damage leaves the children’s charity with no choice but to close until further notice.

Stock will need to be replaced and damage to both the ceiling and flooring will need to be repaired.

The entire shop will need drying out before any of this work can take place.

It is estimated that the shop will need to close for several months while works are carried out, with the charity losing out on valuable income that they desperately need to support life-limited children across Wales, especially families hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

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Tŷ Hafan’s director of fundraising and retail, Julian Hall said: “It’s been a devastating 48 hours for the team who have spent weeks getting the shop ready to welcome our supporters again, as well as making additional preparations to make the shop covid-secure.

“Luckily no one was harmed, and we were able to mend the burst pipe quickly to prevent any further flooding.

“We can only hope that the repairs can be carried out as soon as possible so we can re-open up the shop to our loyal supporters in the area and begin making up the funds we’ve lost as a direct result of the pandemic.”

The news comes a couple of months after the local hospice announced they are predicting an income loss in excess of £2 million this year after cancelling or postponing fundraising activity due to covid-19.

The charity currently cares for 271 children across Wales, 80 of which across Cardiff and the Vale, and is almost completely reliant on public donations to continue providing expert paediatric palliative care to life-limited children as well as memory-making activity to help make the children’s short lives as full as possible.

Since going into lockdown in March, the hospice has continued to provide end-of-life care and crisis support for families in need and has developed a virtual care programme, including music and play therapy, for those shielding from the virus at home.

Mr Hall added: “The repairs combined with the loss of trading will certainly cost thousands and it will be weeks before we can open our doors to the public, so we’re urging our local supporters to help us replenish the stock we’ve lost by donating to our Holton Road shop which we will be reopening to receive donations on Tuesdays and Saturdays from the Monday, June 27.”

Find out how else you can support Tŷ Hafan by visiting www.tyhafan.org/support-us or make a direct donation to their urgent ‘Caring through the Crisis’ appeal today by visiting www.tyhafan.org/appeal