CHARITIES in Swindon say support from the community is essential if they are to recover from the pandemic's "devastating" impact.

Prospect Hospice has raised £1million to support end-of-life care since lockdown ended.

But communication and marketing manager Helen Owen said: “We’re still some way off reaching our initial £2m target but we have people signed up to take part in out Your Way Ironman Triathlon challenges with many completing a marathon throughout October and collecting sponsorship.”

Helen said the cancellation of their fundraising events had a “devastating impact on our income”.

She added: “Our shops are now open, and customers are slowly returning but there’s still a lot of work to do to recover from the impact of lockdown.

“We’ve been part of this community for 40 years now and our aim is to be here, offering specialist end-of-life care, for the next 40 years and beyond. But we’ll only be able to do that if the support from the communities continues.”

Lockdown rules saw the charity shut all of its 17 shops. It was unable to take donations in store and set up a number of outlets around the area instead.

Helen added: “People were incredibly generous but that left us with a very large amount of stock that we couldn’t touch while it was stored for safety reasons.

“Thankfully, these items are now out for sale and we’re now able to accept donations into a small number of our shops and our distribution centre and it’s lovely to be able to see donors and customers returning to support us in this way.

“Coming out of lockdown was challenging for our retail team but they’ve worked exceptionally hard to make sure our shops are all safe for our volunteers and customers to return.”

Helen said the team will know how to adapt if they face a second lockdown.

She said: “While we’ve had to adapt the way we work, throughout the whole lockdown period we’ve been able to stay in contact with our patients and offer them the care and support they need,” she said.

“We had to change the way we worked almost overnight and much more of our care is now delivered out it the community in people’s own homes, where it’s needed and where it’s wanted at this time.

“While no one wants a second wave, the first one has shown us how resilient we are and how our staff adapt and change to suit the needs of our patients. “

Swindon Children’s Scrapstore has lost thousands of pounds due to lockdown. But CEO Olivia McCann said the charity secured a grant of £10,000 from Swindon Borough Council, allowing it to provide free food parcels to people who are struggling.

She added: “All our staff are back at work and some of our volunteers but due to social distancing we are unable to allow all our volunteers to return which has increased the workload of our staff members. But they have all been amazing and really pulled together as a team to overcome any challenges we have faced.”