THE Haltwhistle community has saved the town’s only charity shops from permanent closure.

It comes after Save the Children announced it was pulling the plug on its retail and second-hand book shop on Westgate.

The Haltwhistle Partnership, run by local people for the benefit of local people, will take over the running of the stores for the community.

READ MORE: https://www.hexham-courant.co.uk/news/23253550.haltwhistle-branches-save-children-close/

Partnership chair Julie Gibbon said: “We don’t want to lose our charity shops.

“They both provide an excellent source of potential income for community projects, they service our community to be able to recycle things we don’t want and give our community the opportunity to purchase things that other people don’t want, as well as our visitors – which come from far and wide – to visit both shops.

“We’re trying to keep Haltwhistle thriving with the high street; they are two unique shops and they’ve been there a long time.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for the community.”

Save the Children said it opened its charity shop in 2004 and the book shop followed in 2012 - though locals report the charity having a presence in the town for far longer, saying it was opened by Princess Anne around 30 years ago.

Director of retail and communities at Save the Children Ian Matthews cited a “constantly changing and increasingly challenging retail landscape” for the closures.

Former volunteer Angela Stephenson claimed volunteers were only given two weeks' notice of the closure.

She said: “It’s become very much part of the community.

“I retired a year ago; I loved books and I’d been in the shop as a customer. Straight away, this fabulous community took me. I just thought ‘I love this place’. This eclectic mix of people you get in.

“I’m devastated because as far as I was concerned, I was there for the long haul.”

Customers took letters to the store expressing their sadness over the plans. 

The Haltwhistle Partnership, which last year received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, is now collecting donations and hope the shops will only be closed for a short amount of time during the business' handover.