Castle Comfort at Marks and Spencers Wolstanton

Marks and Spencers Wolstanton join forces with Castle Comfort Centre in aid of Approach

Our December good deeds event this year was held in the Marks and Spencers store at Wolstanton in the run up to Christmas this month. Working together with Marks and Spencers, we were raising much needed funds to support Approach, a North Staffordshire charity that helps elderly people with dementia. Will Boyce the CEO of Approach also presents a radio show on 6towns radio in Stoke and Keith went along to talk about the planned event and about some of the history of how Castle Comfort started off at Hanley Market. You can hear the interview and a great selection of music here.
You can jump to the interview by clicking at the 49 minute mark.


The original fundraising plan was to donate £1 for every ferrule and provide free teas and coffees, but the demand was so great on what was quite a cold weather weekend that the Castle Comfort team kept running out of them and had to go downstairs to the store and bring more.

It was great for some of our staff as they met up with lots of familiar faces from recent customers of the Wolstanton store, and some that remembered them from their Hanley market days nearly twenty years ago!

The event itself was very successful and raised £770 for the charity and around 200 ferrules were changed. More events are planned.   The community room itself is on the first floor of the store and for those readers who missed it Keith took a video tour of the space to get a feel for it.

 

Photos of the day are below and include the presentation of the cheque for £770 outside the store, which was also featured in the Sentinel to highlight the good deed.  

 

Womble in Stone Cleanup Prompts Charity Cheque For Dougie Mac

Stone Town Centre Cleanup Helps Out In More Ways Than One

When Keith from Castle Comfort was out delivering a riser recliner chair in Stone just the other week, the lady receiving it was listening to Radio Stoke. The story they both heard was that a mystery man had been spotted in Stone Town Centre who was going round tidying up all the litter with a grabber - an often used aid that sells well at both of Castle Comfort's Stoke on Trent showrooms and is used to help reach and pick up items around the home as well as outside it. But he wasn't a council worker as was first thought, but a retired member of the public who as part of his civic duty was keeping the local area clean and tidy while getting some fresh air and exercise. There were three reports about it on Radio Stoke over the course of several weeks, (which are all on the video below)  
 
Once his identity was discovered the story culminated with Keith meeting Andrew the Litter Picker aka "The Womble of Stone", to present him with a cheque for £100 as part of the Castle Comfort Good Deeds Fund. Both a Stoke Sentinel photographer and Emma the roving Stafford reporter on Radio Stoke were there to capture the unmasking of the mystery man and to find out more about how it all started - would you believe it - it began with 3 cows over 16 years ago. Listen to all the BBC footage on the video to hear the story progress. Keen cleanup whizz Andrew can collect up to two full bin liners of litter in a morning's work and admits he doesn't mind being recognised now. As well as the giant cheque for £100 Keith also gave Andrew a new grabber as a backup and to help keep him reaching and picking up items easily as he approaches his 70th year - though he doesn't look like he is slowing down just yet. Andrew told us that he wanted to donate the money to the Douglas MacMillan hospice which celebrated it's annual bring a pound a day fundraiser this week. Here's some pictures from the day taken in Stone Town Centre.