Mary aims to raise £10k for Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre

MARY Willington celebrated her 90th birthday last year but she is still super-busy raising money for her favourite museum. Her bric-a-brac stall at the entrance to the Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre has so far raised £9,600 to help with running costs, and she has now set herself the target of reaching £10,000 before centre closes for winter at the end of October.

Mary, who lives in Pembroke, has been a keen volunteer for the last 12 years and set up the bric-a-brac stall at the Heritage Centre after Covid. She now spends around 20 hours a week organising and pricing her stall, as well as helping with the Coffee Bar and fundraising events.

The bric-a-brac stall sells a vast array of donated items at pocket-money prices, from jigsaw puzzles and children’s toys to homewares, scarves and handbags. You never know what you will find there! Visitors who come in just to use the Coffee Bar don’t need to pay a museum entrance fee, so they can have a browse of the bric-a-brac while they enjoy their refreshment.

While the Heritage Centre has been fortunate in securing funding for exhibitions and essential repairs in recent years, this independent volunteer-run museum still depends mainly on entrance fees and donations to cover the extensive costs of running and maintaining this important historic community asset.

Mary’s fundraising stall makes a solid contribution to the museum’s running costs while helping repurpose unwanted gifts to delight bargain-hunters. In November 2025 Mary was Volunteer of the Year in the Pembrokeshire Volunteering Awards 2025 by PAVS (Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services).

Mary welcomes new donations to her stall. Items should be new and complete, and safe – no electrical items. Just email [email protected] to arrange to drop something off (no more than a carrier-bag full, please!).