Showhome furniture auction raises nearly £3k for Cancer Research UK

The Bellway Wales division, which is based in Cardiff, raised a total of £2,977.65 after selling off a range of furniture from showhomes across sites in South Wales and Gloucestershire – including their Parc Mawr, Penllergaer development.

The items that were offered up in the sale included sofas, dining tables, chests of drawers, a coffee table, bar stools, a tall boy, a clothes rail, a desk, dressing tables and a TV unit.

Some of the top-priced lots included an extending dining table and six chairs that went for a £165, a coffee stool that raised £80 and a three-seater and a two-seater settee which fetched a total price of £250.

Bellway has been supporting Cancer Research UK for the past seven years and is aiming to raise £3 million nationally for the charity by the end of 2023.

Cancer Research UK is dedicated to beating cancer through research and raising awareness, funding scientists, doctors and nurses working on the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Rhodri Davies, Sales Manager for Bellway Wales, said: “We thought it would be a great idea to use this collection of furniture which was no longer needed to raise money for Cancer Research UK. This way our staff get high-quality furniture at a decent price, the items go to good homes and are reused, and a charity gets a sizeable donation.

“The online auction also created a great deal of excitement in the division with people bidding for items and hoping they would be successful. We have held a number of fundraising events over the past year and this sale was very popular with a lot of my colleagues getting involved.”

Bellway Wales also organised the inaugural Hugh Thomas Memorial Golf Day at Whitchurch Golf Club in Cardiff last summer, which was named in honour of a much-loved colleague who died from cancer. The event, which saw a team of 21 teams of Bellway staff and suppliers compete for two trophies, raised £5,845.25 for the charity which was boosted to £9,875.75 after match-funding by Bellway Group.

Rhodri said: “On the golf day, Bellway’s Cancer Research UK representative Sophie Busson attended the event and spoke to the competitors about the charity’s vital research and how important the funds they raised are. It was instructive to hear about the work that the charity does and humbling to be told that the money being raised by us at Bellway was really making a difference.

“We are very proud of the close relationship we have developed with Cancer Research UK over the years and are continually thinking of different ways to raise funds for the charity. All our staff are invested in our 3 in 23 campaign which has a target of having raised £3 million for the charity by the end of this year.”