Volunteers are relieved to back in familiar surroundings helping at East Cheshire Hospice charity shops.
Retired hospital sister Margaret Turner has returned to the Chestergate shop which is distributing donated items.
Margaret, a volunteer for 16 years including a decade at the Chestergate shop, said: “I’ve missed the company and when I met our customers in the town centre they asked when we were opening up again.
“The first month of lockdown was okay and I managed to get a lot of things done but then it became frustrating, especially as my social life had stopped.
“I couldn’t go to see the Halle Orchestra, the theatre, or Macclesfield Ladies Probus club where I’m a member. I also go to a luncheon club in Wilmslow and all those activities ended.”
Margaret Turner, an East Cheshire Hospice volunteer for 16 years.
Valerie Roscoe, also from Macclesfield, is a volunteer at the Thornton Square shop where she helps out twice a week.
Valerie said: “It’s been terrible during lockdown to be honest and I struggled to get up in a morning. It’s good to back and I missed chatting to all the customers who’re all very friendly.”
Part of her time during lockdown was spent providing home schooling for 12-year-old grandson Bobby.
Valerie Roscoe, volunteer at the Hospice shop at Thornton Square.
Staff involved in the retail operation on which the Hospice relies heavily for its income are also glad to be back serving customers again.