Times story ‘bags’ hundreds for Action Cancer

In December, the Times ran a story about a mystery benefactor who donated a designer Marc Jacobs handbag to the Railway Road Action Cancer store in Coleraine.

Manager of the store Angie Lamont explained: “In early December the bag was left in along with other items by one of our regular customers who is very good to us.

“She didn’t make a big deal about it but just told one of the volunteers to tell me that there was a certain handbag included which was in a box.

“When I saw the Marc Jacobs box I knew the bag was a bit special so one of our volunteers looked it up on the internet and discovered that it as a 2009 Christy handbag by Marc Jacobs worth hundreds of dollars.

“We decided to hold a raffle for the handbag and began at sell tickets priced at £2 each. We were selling a few tickets during that time but then the Coleraine Times ran a fantastic article on our designer bag and it just took off!

“I was even interviewed on the BBC as they had read the story and were interested in it too.

“The money really came in then and we even had cheques sent down from Belfast. The winning ticket was eventually bought by a Sinead McGouran from Ballycastle who happened to be in town that day.

“She works in Dublin so that is where the lovely handbag has made its home now.

“It was a fantastic fundraiser for Action Cancer and raised almost £400 for us in a couple of weeks. Thank you Coleraine Times!”

The Action Cancer shop on Coleraine’s Railway Road is open from 9am - 5pm Monday to Saturday or call them on (028) 7035 2235.