Locks Heath ward Councillor Susan Bayford opened The Rainbow Centre’s third shop in one of her first acts as the new Mayor of Fareham.
(L-R) Helen Somerset How, the Rainbow Centre’s Co-Founder, Lucy Docherty, Chair of Trustees, Mayor Susan Bayford, Mayor’s Consort Brian Bayford, and Lara Bull, Business Manager.
The charity is one of those she will be supporting during her mayoral year.
The new shop in West Street should be as popular with the community as the other charity shops in West End, Southampton and Eastney, Portsmouth.
Children from the centre were joined by pre-schoolers from Good Manor Day Care, who were treated to lots of surprises by Adam Magic Music Man, a magician who wanted to help make the opening a special experience for the children.
After the official rainbow ribbon cutting, everyone was invited inside to enjoy tea and rainbow cupcakes. They were also joined by the founder, Helen Somerset-How who was delighted with the new shop and said that they hoped it would provide an invaluable income stream to support the centre.
The Mayor has chosen the Adult Rehabilitation side of The Rainbow Centre as one of her charities of the year.
As well as working with children with cerebral palsy, over the past seven years the centre has developed a programme working with adults who have MS, Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and those who may have experienced a stroke or head injury as conductive education can have very positive results for people with these disabilities.
The Centre aims to expand this service in the future to meet the greater demand it is experiencing.
Lara Bull, Business Support Manager said “For the shop to be a great success they will need lots of donations so if you are thinking of clearing your wardrobe ready for the summer or think that your loft could really do with being sorted please remember us. We are so pleased to have a shop in Fareham and would like to thank everyone, especially our amazing band of volunteers, who helped us to get the shop up and running.”