BHF launch Great British Bagathon event at the Merrion Centre

Thu 15 Aug, 2013

British Heart Foundation (BHF) shops are launching their biggest stock donation appeal, the Great British Bag-athon with an event on Friday 6th September at the Merrion Centrre. BHF shops are urging Leeds’ local community to join in and fill up bags full of unwanted things for the Great British Bag-athon to help fight heart disease.

The event will be officially launched by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councilor Tom Murray, when he donates the first bag of items at 11am on the launch day.

The Great British Bag-athon is BHF shops biggest stock donation campaign, aiming to raise 1 million bags of unwanted things throughout September. Every bag filled is a bag full of life-saving research.

Between 6th-7th and 13th-14th September volunteers will be in the Merrion Centre giving out stock donation bags and asking shoppers to fill one bag, or many, with unwanted clothes, books, homewares, toys, CDs, and DVDs, then take it to the local BHF shop.

Every seven minutes someone dies from a heart attack, so the more bags that are donated, the more researchers the BHF can fund, meaning more lives will be saved. So get filling, because every bag counts.

After the event at the shopping centre has ended, filled bags can continue to be donated to the Great British Bag-athon at the BHF shop.

Susan Mendoza, Centre Manager at the Merrion Centre commented:
“We are delighted to be holding a Great British Bag-athon event again this year. It’s the perfect opportunity to have a clear out and donate any unwanted items, raising vital funds to support those in our community who are living with heart disease. You can even take on a bag filling challenge. Simply set a target and ask your friends, family, neighbours or work colleagues to pledge you bags and bring them along to our event.”

BHF Area Manager, Mavis Dillon said:
“We’d like to urge everyone in Leeds’s local community to get involved with this Great British Bag-athon event and help us raise bags full of unwanted things. This event can really help us reach our target of raising 1 million bags throughout August and September.

“Coronary Heart Disease is the UK’s single biggest killer and every bag you fill is a bag full of life-saving research. Every donation really makes a difference.”