Anger as child’s silver bracelet is stolen from shop raising money for cancer care centre

By ROSALIND GRIFFITHS

Stealing from a charity shop is about as low as you can get. So said CLAN 1,2,3 shop manager Rena MacKay after a child’s silver bracelet was stolen from the Toll Clock Shopping Centre premises on Saturday.

The engraved bracelet was in a box in the window at the side of the till – the two staff on duty that day had placed the box there to keep an eye on it. Beside the bracelet was a silver ring in a twisted design, also in a box.

But only a couple of hours later staff noticed the items had vanished. The boxes were still there, but the bracelet and ring had disappeared.

Mrs MacKay said: “I’m awful mad about yon. The mentality of some people … it was a really nice engraved bracelet and it was at the side of the till. I don’t know if these people have any conscience.”

And she had this message for the thief or thieves: “Shame on you. I hope that neither you not anyone dear to you ever have the misfortune to need CLAN House.”

The bracelet was priced at £10, the ring at £3. But the money was not the issue. “It’s not the value it’s the principle,” she said. “Someone donated these things for the CLAN cause.”

Shoplifting is a constant problem at the shop, she said. Recently staff challenged a woman who was putting a set of curtains in her bag – she said she had paid for them, although those working at the shop knew she had not. The curtains were eventually put back on the shelf.

It is a problem in other town shops too. Mrs MacKay said: “It is high time we drew attention to it.”

A CLAN charity box mysteri­ously vanished from another shop in the shopping centre – now the one in the CLAN shop is chained to the counter.

The charity shop was set up last August to raise money for the new cancer centre in Aberdeen, which will provide accommodation and support to islanders having cancer treatment in Aberdeen.

The existing CLAN House, which provides alternative therapies and CLAN Haven, which offers accommodation, are having to move from their present site. A new purpose-built centre is planned and fundraising for it is taking place in the areas it will serve – Shetland, Orkney and Grampian.

The Shetland fundraising push has been a spectacular success with nearly £190,000 in the coffers. The shop alone regularly takes £1,500 per week, and so far has raised more than £30,000.

The CLAN appeal has now raised a total of £189,117. Among the donations this week £1,001 came from a service collection at St Columba’s Church, which held a re-dedication service after its recent refurbishment.

Other CLAN donations came from carol services at various churches around Shetland.

The final tally from the CHC Scotia open day at Sumburgh last month amounted to £4,000.

And pupils from Dunrossness Primary School raised £250 through an Enterprise project in which they designed and made a variety of sweets which were sold at playtime to children and staff.

• This week is the last chance to buy tickets for the CLAN prize draw, which will be drawn on Up Helly A’ day. The star prize, a Toyota Yaris, valued at nearly £9,000, is on display in the Toll Clock Shopping Centre. Raffle tickets are available at the CLAN shop and this weekend at the Co-op and at a special stall at the Toll Clock.