Retailers in Hertford dug deep to help raise thousands of pounds for the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals' Charity's COVID-19 appeal.

Despite many of the county town's businesses having to temporarily close or move to online-only services due to the pandemic, they rallied to generously donate prizes for a raffle organised by Hertford Town Council.

With 168 people donating money in order to buy raffle tickets, the virtual fundraiser brought in £3,005 for our #HereForEachOther appeal.

Cllr Jane Sartin, chairman of the town council's development and leisure committee, said: “Hertford’s businesses were very generous in their donations of goods and services in what is a challenging time for them. Thank you to everyone who supported this with their financial donations to the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals’ Charity.

"As our town centre starts to come back to life over the coming weeks and months, I hope Hertford residents will support our local businesses which play such an important role in our community.”

Claire Adams, community fundraiser at our charity, said: “We’re extremely grateful for the thousands of pounds raised by the online raffle. We would like to thank Hertford Town Council, the 33 local businesses who gave so many fantastic prizes and everyone who made a donation to buy tickets.

"The money raised will go towards our #HereForEachOther appeal, which is supporting the physical and emotional wellbeing of our hospitals’ staff as they work hard to serve our communities through the COVID-19 outbreak.”

* Winners' details are listed on www.gohertford.co.uk - prizes should be claimed by emailing [email protected] or calling 01992 552885 by 30 June, otherwise they will be re-raffled.

PHOTO: Nurses at Hertford County Hospital - including Valerie Ibbetson, Cecilia Barker and Sharon Lewis - are among staff who will benefit from our #HereForEachOther appeal

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