When you’re smiling… Marjorie beams across our Bromborough Croft Trade Park charity showroom

Bromborough Croft volunteer, Marjorie Firmin, greets people, staff and other volunteers who are visiting from the hospice, with a big hug.

Moving swiftly around the showroom, answering customer’s enquiries, sorting stock and keeping the whole place tidy is no bother to her. She’s only 89 years old and, as she tells us,

“My friend Betty is 93 and she’s still going strong!”

Fair play Marjorie! She really is always on the go, a marvel.

Showroom manager John is always imploring her not to pick up heavy stuff in the showroom or when the pick-up/drop off van appears.

She’s originally from Norris Green in Liverpool and became a dab hand at Pitman’s shorthand and typing and moved to London for the bright lights. She started as a solicitor’s secretary in London and finished her working life as the principal’s secretary at a college in Luton.

Husband Brian was a driving instructor with his own driving school.

They moved to Wirral when illness in the family struck. Their beloved niece Karen, who later passed away at the hospice, left a husband, Adam and two children, Liz and Jenny, just seven and five at the time, and Marjorie and Brian wanted to do all they could to help.

It was some years later when Marjorie lost her beloved Brian, to cancer, and she went through a time when she admits, “my days were long, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

Good friend, next door neighbour and also long-standing hospice Wellbeing Centre volunteer, Diane Scott, suggested that Marjorie might attend an open day for people to look at volunteering at our,  Bromborough Croft charity showroom (then, it was soon to be opened, now, it’s one year old) and Marjorie was a natural!

Nowadays, she says,

“Every Friday morning, I’ve got somewhere to be. I really look forward to it, work from 9 am to 12:15 and it’s brilliant. I love it. I love the team that come in. It’s a lovely atmosphere to work in.”

Manager, John, receives high praise from Marjorie,

“John is a smashing boss. I’ve never known him to be in a bad mood. Mind you, he’s always stopping me from doing things I shouldn’t be doing, ‘don’t be moving that bed, don’t lift that coffee table.’ He looks after me and all the other volunteers.”

Marjorie admits she’s not very good at working the till, so her enthusiasm and positive attitude is put to good use in other areas, making her an invaluable part of the team.

The camaraderie in the shop is clear, and matched with the items they are selling, and the reason why, makes Marjorie happy,

“There’s some absolutely gorgeous stuff in the shop, and it’s so reasonably priced. With every penny helping the hospice to keep providing its wonderful services for our community it is a privilege to volunteer here.”

Outside of the hospice shop Marjorie has another major passion, line dancing! She’s a member of Chay’s Stompers, a Wirral-based group. Holidays with friends in the Stompers have seen her dancing in Malta, Turkey, Tunisia, Tenerife, Egypt, and Gibraltar, where they regularly attract the attention of the other hotel guests.

When asked if she dances to Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus, she laughs,

“Oh, that’s just a beginner’s dance.”

Well, we know you’re advanced in everything you do for the hospice Marjorie, so, Thank You, we’re all eternally grateful.

Our Bromborough Croft showroom is open at the Croft Trade Park in Bromborough, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 4.30pm. If you’d like to donate larger items of furniture, please call 0151-334 2558 to arrange for a pick-up.

A full list of all Wirral Hospice St John’s charity shops is at www.wirralhospice.org/charityshops  and, if you’d like to volunteer in our shops you can also contact us by email at volunteering@wirralhospice.org and we can send you all the relevant details.