Working in a Rennie Grove shop: ‘Much more than a retail role’

The Rennie Grove Hospice Care shops are the high street face of the local charity whose specialist and dedicated nurses care for local people and their families coping with life-

limiting illnesses, enabling them to be cared for among loved ones in the familiar surroundings of home.

The 27 Rennie Grove shops across Beds and Herts are a major source of income for this unique hospice care, thanks to their bright and welcoming appeal to supporters and

shoppers seeking quality new and pre-loved items at hard-to-resist prices.

But when Sally King joined Rennie Grove’s busy retail team in Bucks, she soon discovered that her role offered much more than she was expecting. “It isn’t simply a retail role; it’s

a way of really helping other families because the more donations you receive the more money you can raise, which in turn means more specialist nursing care for local families.”

“We are very well supported and receive a large number of donations from local families who come to us specifically because Rennie Grove nurses have looked after someone in

the family or a friend,” says Sally, who is assistant shop manager at Rennie Grove’s Bedgrove shop near Aylesbury, which opened in May last year.

“We feel privileged that very often our customers want to share with us the stories about what their loved ones have gone through, and that can be emotional yet uplifting,” says

Sally, who joined Rennie Grove after her own mother was cared for by the charity’s nurses. “I felt it was my chance to give something back to the charity,” she says.

“Although we don’t have direct contact with patients, our role in the retail side of Rennie Grove helps to raise money that funds nurses and health care assistants. This in turn

means that the charity can continue to offer the nursing and support that is essential to local families who have loved ones who are at the end of life and need the level of care

that as a charity we excel at.

“We are also the public face of Rennie Grove in the community as we come into contact with lots of people each day. This means we get plenty of opportunities to explain the role of Rennie Grove and provide people with information and literature to help them better understand the service we offer.”

If you are interested in finding out more about joining Rennie Grove’s retail team either as a member or staff or as a volunteer then please visit www.renniegrove.org/jobs or www.renniegrove.org/volunteer.