The Northumberland charity shop which has been named the North East's favourite

Staff and volunteers gathered to celebrate as a Northumberland charity shop was named the North East's favourite charity shop in a national competition.

The Tynedale Hospice at Home shop on Fore Street in Hexham is one of 12 around the country to be named a regional winner for the UK's Favourite Charity Shop. The competition, run by the Charity Retail Association, saw 13,000 people cast votes in area finals, with the winners picked from more than 6,500 public nominations.

It is a major coup for Tynedale Hospice at Home, which offers home-based palliative care and support across West Northumberland. Catherine van Aswegen co-manages the shop with Jennifer Clark, and is "over the moon" at the accolade.

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Catherine told ChronicleLive: "It's a new concept, we've colour coded the store. But not just that, it's where the money goes to and the care that we offer, so we're absolutely delighted to have won the award, it's fantastic.

Jennifer Clark paid tribute to the volunteers who gave up their time to help the retail operation. She said: "We have a brilliant set of volunteers who we couldn’t manage without.

"They work so hard to help us achieve our targets and make so much money for the hospice. And it’s all a good cause for the local area."

Robin Osterley, chief executive of the Charity Retail Association, said: "We have been overwhelmed by the response to our search for the UK’s Favourite Charity Shop.

"The volume of support for the awards has been beyond anything we could have hoped for and not only demonstrates the public’s passion for their favourite stores but really highlights what these wonderful organisations mean to the local community. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to vote and huge congratulations to all of the winners."

The UK’s Favourite Charity Shop 2024 will be announced at a special event this month.