The British Heart Foundation (BHF) shop in Holloway is appealing for volunteers to help it get back up and running, following the pandemic.

Volunteers are the BHF’s “life-blood”, but when their 712 shops closed in line with Covid restrictions, the Holloway Road shop saw volunteer numbers plummet.

“Currently, our volunteering hours are down 20 per cent compared to pre-Covid and we have on average 2,500 fewer volunteers each week”, said retail volunteering operations manager Sarah Boardman.

This January, the charity is appealing for more volunteers, with vacancies in their shops, online and behind-the-scenes.

These offer a great opportunity to try out a new hobby, “meet new people, boost your confidence” and “gain retail experience".

You can commit just a few hours each week or a few days,” said Sarah.

Without more volunteers, BHF may have to reduce open hours and may be unable to collect much-needed funds to carry out life-saving heart research.

For more information go to bhf.org.uk/signmeup.