Volunteers at a Rossendale not-for-profit organisation have undertaken a range of zany fundraising challenges this month.
Store manager Chelsea Barnwell, 24, will be the latest staff member at Bacup Bargains (The Hub) to take on a quirky ordeal as the organisation looks for new ways to encourage donations.
Chelsea’s challenge is the first one they have promoted on social media and - buoyed by the positive reception from the first two challenges - she expects it to be the biggest one yet.
She will have a barrage of egg, flour and water thrown over her next week on the condition that the store sells four specific items by their deadline of 5pm on Wednesday.
It will take place outside the Burnley Road store on Thursday between 4pm and 5pm and will be livestreamed on Facebook Live.
Chelsea, a mum of three who has worked at the store since it opened last November, said: “I let them pick the idea. I’m quite a daredevil, so I’ll do anything within reason.”
She added: “I am looking forward to it. It is for a good cause and it will put people in a happy place.”
The four items in question are: a Pacman arcade machine and stool, £150; a new bird cage, £40; a retro green skateboard, £3; and a fake branch lighting unit and vase, £3.
This will be the third stunt the volunteers at Bacup Bargains have pulled in the name of fundraising.
A few weeks ago Leon Berry, 24, who is Chelsea’s partner and a fellow volunteer, put on a wedding dress and jumped into a green bin filled with icy water after the store met its first fundraising target.
And earlier in the week, store founder Andrew Jones, 40, dyed his hair green after staff completed their latest goal in only three days.
Chelsea said these stunts are a creative way for the store to engage with the community and raise funds for the shop.
As a not-for-profit organisation, the funds raised are reinvested into the store and help them continue to provide a range of new and used household items at reduced rates and sometimes for free.
The shop doors are also open for people to pop in for a quick brew or a chat.
There is also a separate space upstairs called The Hub where founder Andrew, who is also a counsellor, provides support sessions with members of the community struggling with problems like financial difficulty, homelessness and mental health.
Andrew recently announced that he would be dedicating more of his time to his counselling duties at The Hub and this will be on an appointment-only basis.
This means Chelsea has stepped up to undertake the day-to-day running of Bacup Bargains as shop manager.
READ MORE: Family to open role play centre in memory of son who died, aged 4, of cancer
Pictures as Brassic cast spotted filming final season in East Lancs
Just days after it opened in November, Bacup Bargains was one of the many businesses in East Lancashire that flooded during Storm Bert and staff sacrificed around £100 worth of stock to stop the water getting into the shop.
Chelsea said: “The community helped us a lot with the flooding and our volunteers came out of their own way to try and save The Hub.
“They helped move stock out of the way and stop the water coming into the shop.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereYou must verify your phone number before you can comment.
Please enter your phone number below, and a verification code will be sent to you by text message.
Please enter the six-digit verification code sent to you by SMS.
Your verification code has been sent a second time to the mobile phone number you provided.
Your verification code has been sent a third time to the mobile phone number you provided.
You have requested your verification code too many times. Please try again later.
Didn’t receive a code? Send it againThe code you entered has not been recognised.
Please try again
You have failed to enter a correct code after three attempts.
Please try again later.
Your phone number has been verified.
Your phone number has been stored with your account details. We will never use it for anything other than verifying that you are the legitimate owner of this account.