Suit you Sir!
Shropshire postman, Chris Holgate, has been wearing a different costume every day on his rounds to raise money for Hope House Children’s Hospice in Morda, near Oswestry.
Hope House Children's Hospices provide palliative care for babies, children and young adults up to the age of 25 and support for their family. Care is provided at home, in hospital and at two specially designed hospices, Hope House in Shropshire and Ty Gobaith in North Wales.
Last week, having hit his target for the hospice, Chris, who is based at Oswestry Delivery Office, wore his ultimate outfit – a dress and wig with pigtails.
When Chris first thought about dressing up, he didn’t have anything to wear. ‘Someone on my round in Knockin Heath and Kinnerley gave me a fancy shirt,’ he told the Shropshire Star. ‘The next day, someone else gave me a different shirt, and then someone else gave me another.
After a couple on his round suggested Chris wear fancy dress to raise money for Hope House, donations started to arrive on the Hope House website marked ‘sponsorship for Postie, Chris.’
When a customer then dared Chris to wear a dress, he said: ‘If we got to £500 I said I would, never thinking we’d hit the target. Then someone else mentioned a blonde wig, so I said I’d do that for £1,000.
‘Last time I looked, the total was standing at just short of £2,500, and a local business has said they will add £500 too, so that’s great.’
Chris’s dress and wig costume was, like his other outfits, donated by customers on his round.
‘Everyone wants to see me make a fool of myself, but I really don’t mind as it’s for such an amazing cause and, in these difficult times, it’s nice to be able to brighten people’s days with a bit of fun,’ he added. ‘Usually when I deliver the post everyone is in their pyjamas and dressing gowns, but I told them I wanted to see them in their glad rags to match my dress.’
If you would like to add to Chris’s fundraising tally, you can do so by visiting hopehouse.org.uk/donate and marking your donation ‘Postie Chris.’
