BRANCHES of Acorns Children’s Hospice across Worcestershire are re-opening this week.

From June 18, the hospice’s charity shops in Barnards Green, Knowle, Pershore, St Peters and Upton will re-open with reduced hours and social distancing in place.

Gary Pettit, head of retail at Acorns, said: "We’re really looking forward to reopening our shops on Tuesday and welcoming our customers back. The safety of our customers, staff and volunteers is our top priority so there will be some changes.

"We’ve introduced a number of safety measures, including social distancing, protective equipment for staff and volunteers and we will be limiting the number of people permitted into each shop at any one time.

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"We want everyone to return to our shops with confidence, so thank you for your patience."

Following the re-opening, the shops will be open from Monday to Saturday with the reduced opening hours 10am to 4pm.

The charity is also appealing for more people to join its inspirational team of volunteers to help staff its shops.

Mr Pettit added: "The support of our volunteers is just as important as our customers in helping us continue our work caring for children and families.

"We rely on people generously donating their time to help staff our shops and with many of our volunteers being among the vulnerable isolating at home, we are appealing for more people to join Team Acorns. So, please get in touch."

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Acorns charity shops provide a crucial source of income for the charity, helping it fund its vital care for children with life limiting and life threatening conditions.

In March, the charity published its emergency response for Covid-19, prioritising care for the most vulnerable children and their families and setting aside its hospice in the Black Country for children from local hospitals with complex care needs to help acute trusts maximise their intensive care capability.

As well as this, the charity temporarily closed its hospice in Birmingham and offered the facility for use in the emergency response.

For more details on how to locate your nearest shop or how to become a volunteer, please visit www.acorns.org.uk/shops