Staff at Boots are getting up to some monkey business this weekend – but it’s all in a good cause.
Fourteen members of staff from the Quadrant Centre store in Swansea city centre will be taking part in a 15-mile sponsored walk dressed as monkeys in memory of a colleague who died earlier this year.
Christine Bendle, 50, from Morriston, a sales assistant at the Quadrant store, loved monkeys and so her colleagues are getting into costume for the walk which will raise money for the popular Ty Olwen Hospice.
They will be joined on the walk by Christine’s husband Paul and her daughters Emma and Amy.
Suzanne Miles, a Boots colleague of Christine, who helped organise the walk, said: “Chris had worked here for a long time and she was very popular.
“She loved monkeys and had even ‘adopted’ one at Monkey World in Dorset.
“She had overcome breast cancer once and then it came back. She was very brave but sadly she passed away in January.
“She was a lovely person and so we decided we wanted to do something in remembrance of her and to give something back to Ty Olwen who looked after her so well.
“They were really lovely up there and always so nice. They always had time for her and for us when we visited.
“Fourteen of us are going to start the walk at the Leisure Centre in Swansea on Sunday at 10.30am and walk to the pier in Mumbles and back and Christine’s husband and two daughters are joining us.
“We’ve also had a memorial stone made which has been set up at Monkey World in Dorset and we are also planting a tree there in her memory later this year.”
The Ty Olwen Trust was formed in 1981 to provide support for the Tŷ Olwen Hospice, a specialist palliative care unit at Morriston Hospital and every year it raises over a quarter of a million pounds.
Every year it holds a major appeal in April, May and June with collection points all over the Swansea and Neath/Port Talbot areas, including one in the Quadrant where Christine worked.
Christine’s husband, Paul, said: “My father was also in Ty Olwen so what they do means a lot to me and I have raised money for them myself.
“It’s got a huge place in my heart. They are very caring people up there and Sunday is a very special day for us – the staff at Boots have been brilliant.
“Chris just had this thing about monkeys, she loved them, and I’ve put my own memorial stone at Monkey World and Boots have also given me a memorial tree which I have planted in our garden at home.”
Paul Murray, Vice-Chairman of the Ty Olwen Trust, said: “We really appreciate what the staff at Boots are doing in memory of their colleague and we’re grateful for all the support we get from the Quadrant.
“It’s one of our key collection points and is very much the crossroads of Swansea and is a superb place for us to be.
“The Trust was founded over 30 years ago now to support the Hospice which is for people with life-limiting diseases and over the years it has developed, like the service, support home care, day care and hospital-based services.
“Tŷ Olwen has a strong financial commitment from the NHS to fund the day to day running of the service. However, it is necessary for the Tŷ Olwen Trust to raise additional funds to provide the level of care we feel our Patients and their Families deserve.”
“This year our goal is to raise £400,000 and we have had terrific support from very many organisations including g the South Wales Evening Post.
“We’re very much a local charity and 95p of every pound we receive goes to helping the patients it was designed to care for.”
Ian Kirkpatrick, Manager of the Quadrant Shopping Centre, said: “The Ty Olwen Trust really is a marvellous charity which does so much good work in the area.
“It is held in such great affection by people locally and there can be very few in this part of South West Wales who haven’t had their lives touched by it over the past 30 years.
“We’re very happy to be able to play our part in helping with this annual appeal.”
