Earlier on this week a fire broke out on a Main Street in Abergavenny. The building has been virtually totally destroyed and left one local charity with absolutely nothing. We’re speaking to Leslie who’s run the magic cottage since it opened, and she says the fire has devastated everything the charity has done so far.
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00:00It was really starting to take off, we were still filling the shelves, so obviously we,
00:07the charity's lost everything in the fire and all the staff are devastated.
00:14Lesley recalled Sunday evening when she was told there was smoke coming from upstairs
00:19and says her and a number of staff and volunteers from the shop were there trying their very
00:23best to help where they could.
00:25And we met down there, we couldn't see any flames at that time, but we could see smoke
00:32coming down a fire escape from upstairs, and the fire brigade arrived, I don't know, it
00:43was about ten to nine, and even when they came, I couldn't see any flames, and then
00:49suddenly there was a smash of a window exploding and flames shooting out of one of those windows,
00:59and it just seemed to take hold, and then when you thought it was going out, and at
01:06one point it just turned into an inferno.
01:10The charity has been in operation since 2020 and helps young people either with life-limiting
01:14illnesses or disabilities of all kinds to create memories and provide families with
01:18a chance to go away on short breaks together and give these young people experiences that
01:23can last a lifetime.
01:25We raised money from the sales in our shop to buy a caravan on a haven park in Tenby,
01:34and so we can send families for free short breaks with their families, and we're all
01:39about the activities that people can do with their families, so about making memories.
01:45The charity had four premises at one point, but in a harsh twist of fate, they closed
01:50one down to move into the bigger site that burned down, leaving them with almost nothing
01:54left of the whole organisation.
01:55Luckily, they have a brand new site open just this year in Monmouth, as well as a storage
02:00facility that they hope to open to the public soon.
02:03We had two shops in Abergavenny, until we handed the keys in on the 21st of October
02:11after five years on a lease there, and the shop contents then were taken across to the
02:21newest one, the bigger one, that's now gone.
02:24So we've not only lost one shop contents, we've actually lost two.
02:28Lesley says that if it wasn't for the support shown this week, that she and her team would
02:33have struggled even more after the fire.
02:36So thanks everyone who's been there for the magic cottage.
02:39The people of Monmouth have been absolutely fantastic, lots of support, lots of our lovely
02:47customers in Abergavenny have given us lots of support as well.
02:53I think staff, I know I probably had about 60 or 80 messages.