Oxfam Music and Books in Leamington celebrates tenth birthday and £1.2 million effort

To celebrate customers, donors and volunteers past and present, are invited to join a tenth anniversary party with balloons and cake at the Reghent Street shop on Saturday May 2 from 9.15 am to 5.15pm.

The staggering figure is the accumulated total sales of ten years’ worth of donated books, CDs, DVDs, and vinyl, which the Leamington shop sells for the national charity.

The money could potentially pay for safe water for 1.2 million people, equivalent to 24 times the population of Leamington.

It could provide more than 200,000 people with health checks, could train more than 44,000 teachers or could buy more than 120,000 chickens or 48,000 sheep to help poor families make a living.

Shop manager Jen Thornton said, “It’s amazing we’ve made so much money for Oxfam thanks to people’s generosity.

“It’s a community venture because locals give us donations, volunteer in the shop and choose to buy from us too.

“It’s incredible what we’ve achieved together.

“Proceeds from the shop are especially important as the profits are immediately available when there is a catastrophe.”

During the shop’s decade of trading it has helped finance emergency support for Indian Ocean tsunami survivors in 2005, food aid for drought-stricken East Africa in 2006, help for flood victims in South Asia in 2007, safe water for people fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008, aid for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in 2009, support for Haiti earthquake survivors in 2010, help for Syrian refugees in 2011, food for West Africa in 2012, support for victims of the Philippines typhoon in 2013 and, most recently, help to stop the spread of Ebola in Africa.

The shop is currently fundraising for Oxfam’s Strength to Survive appeal, which aims to help communities prepare for and survive disasters.

For every pound raised for this appeal before May 4 the UK Government will give another pound to fund Oxfam’s work with families facing disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering.

The charity aims to save lives by responding quickly with aid and protection during emergencies, by empowering people to work their own way out of poverty and by campaigning for change.