Stallholders at Shrewsbury Market Hall have raised more than £660 for disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.
Traders held a week of fundraising activities in November in aid of the BBC’s annual Children in Need campaign.
Activities were officially launched by the Mayor of Shrewsbury, Councillor Jon Tandy, and included hunt the Pudsey, guess the number of sweets in the jar, face painting, live music, raffles and competitions. Shoppers were also encouraged to help fill Smartie tubes with £1 coins on each participating stall.
Phil Roe from Urban Bikes said: ‘I was really pleased to see the Market Traders all working together to make the fundraising week a success and it was great to see how much the public supported and enjoyed the events.”
This year’s Children in Need campaign raised more than £31million on appeal night, with donations still coming in.
The BBC fundraising drive is now in its 34th year and provides grants to projects in the UK which focus on children and young people who are disadvantaged.
Market Hall shoppers can currently cast their votes to help the venue secure the title of Britain’s Favourite Market.
Online voting in the national competition has now opened and will run throughout December.
The search for Britain’s Favourite Market is part of the annual national Market of the Year awards run by the National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA).
While other categories, including Best Indoor Market and Best Outdoor Market, are selected by a judging panel, Britain’s favourite Market is decided solely by public vote.
Supporters of Shrewsbury Market Hall, which opened in the town centre in 1965 and is jointly run by Shrewsbury Town Council and managing agent Jones Lang LaSalle, can register their votes online at www.nabma.com/market-of-the-year/.
Located between Shoplatch and Claremont Street, the two-tiered market now boasts over 70 stalls including cafes, restaurants, butchers, grocers, artisan food producers, home accessory and gift boutiques, a barber and even a resident psychotherapist. It is also home to Shrewsbury’s last remaining independent bookshop, Shropshire’s only retail adult board game specialist, an art gallery and the Midlands’ only supplier of traditional Dutch bicycles. In 2011 it won the Best Council-run Market category in the NABMA awards.