New Wellsford Hospice shop opens for business

Deputy Mayor John Kirikiri is a fan of charity shops.

Growing up in a family of 16, he said that he had got used to wearing secondhand clothing.
At the opening of the new Hospice shop in Wellsford last month, he confessed to wearing a suit courtesy of the Salvation Army and issued a challenge to Wellsford volunteers: “find me a double XL suit and I’ll buy it”.

Shop manager Sandy Dodd said that the opening of the new premises on Rodney St marked the 10th anniversary of Warkworth-Wellsford Hospice having a charity shop in the town.

“It’s going to be fantastic having such a profile on the main street,” she says.

Also present at the ceremony were Kaumatua Charlie Connolly, who blessed the new premises, Hospice North Shore chief executive Mike Franklin, Cr Dave Parker, and Warkworth-Wellsford Hospice manager Kathryn Ashford, along with volunteers and supporters.

John Kirikiri performs the opening ceremony, with help from eight-year-old Maia Faddy, Charlie Connolly’s grand daughter.