A Pembroke sweet shop has raised a magnificent £1250.84 in aid of Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity LATCH after staging various colourful costume days in recent months.

The Sweet Retreat situated on the town’s Main Street, opened its doors just over a year ago, and whilst facing the challenging times like all other businesses due to the ongoing pandemic, shop owner - Abi Roberts and friend Kayleigh Kitts, took to the idea of cheering up children on visiting the premises.

SpongeBob SquarePants’s best friend Patrick Star was the first to visit the shop back in June, which drew a lot of attention and brightened up visiting children’s day.

“Many passing by stopped to look and wave, and those walking by had to take a photo!” explained Kayleigh.

Following on from that another successful character day was held, featuring Paw Patrol’s Skye, and they were proving so popular that more joined in the fun, and with many wondering what the cause was for, Kayleigh and Abi (who were now joined by friend Claire) turned something that was done purely for fun, into ‘character days’ to raise money for LATCH over the rest of the summer.

“There are a lot of charities and donation buckets in and around the town, but we didn’t hear much of the LATCH charity in and around Pembroke, so with this in mind we wanted to do something for a charity that does so much for children suffering with cancer and their families in all areas of life,” continued Kayleigh.

“A friend close to myself and Abi – Donna Evans had her fifth child eight years ago, who unfortunately was born with Cancer.

“Donna’s child Nevaeh, spent many months in hospital battling the illness, receiving treatment in Cardiff hospital, and received support from LATCH.

“Nevaeh, fortunately beat cancer, and is now, along with her mum, helping us out with the fundraising and to raise awareness and knowledge of LATCH and to help allow the charity to support many others, who are in the same boat the Evans family were in.”

Once the charity was chosen, more ‘character days’ were set out, and the fundraisers were attracting not just people on foot, but many cars, busses, lorries and even emergency services joined in the little bit of fun, stopping the traffic, and raiding their vehicles for any loose change they may have to donate.

At this point the little fundraising team that began growing from two to four, then grew even more with Marcus Lawler joining the team, as well as Jess Dooner and Tracey Miller, participating in the days.

The team then worked closely together to plan and organise a little fun day, at The Sweet Retreat at the end of the summer holidays, and began to approach other local businesses for donations towards raffle prizes.

With the fun day planned for Saturday (September 11) this meant that all hands were on deck, and many raffle prizes were donated, such as a signed photo of Six Nations Champions Wales.

“With a high amount of people offering to make a donation to purchase, and due to the kind donation of three photos, it was decided to auction one to the highest bidder, which was a big success,” remarked Kayleigh.

“Outside the shop, the team organised a face painter Tara Jenkins who helped out using her skills, and there was a lucky dip, town scavenger hunt, name the bear, meet the Teletubbies and all the team had some fun! We even had our very own Willy Wonka at the shop - owner Abi!

“Individuals were very generous in the town with donations, and it was great to have Susan from LATCH visit us, where initially we were going to hand over the total money raised, but due to people still donating it was decided to keep the donation box open until after the weekend.

“The day ended, and the total raised for LATCH was £1250.84 on count at Monday lunchtime; and with some of the team having conversations with Susan, and it was decided we will continue over time to raise money for LATCH.”

The girls would like to thank firstly the team involved, an also the businesses and individuals who donated and support the character days and fun day, but special thanks goes to the public, who donated to the bucket collections and purchased tickets.

There is also a special thanks to say to the little number one fan – Matthew who attended every day, with his mum Siobhan, and even dressed up to get involved with the fun day.

The shop and team have decided that the next fundraising event they will hold will be over the festive period.