WITH just two weeks left until Christmas the Dorchester Cards for Good Causes seasonal charity pop-up shop, in the Tourist Information Centre in Bucky Doo Square is urging shoppers to choose to support one of more than 35 national and local charities.

The UK’s largest multi-charity Christmas card organisation offers shoppers on high streets up and down the UK and online via its website the opportunity to ‘buy once, give twice’ with a huge selection of charity Christmas cards and an array of gifts and stocking fillers.

Recent figures released by the Greetings Card Association show that our appetite for Christmas cards is as strong as ever and that many people are making a conscious choice to send Christmas cards that benefit charities. The sale of Christmas cards raises an estimated £50 million for UK charities each year.

Jeremy Lune, chief executive of Cards for Good Causes said: "We believe that people still place great value in giving and receiving Christmas cards. For many people it is the main occasion in the year that they take the time to write and send cards. Receiving a card through the post means so much more than sending a text, social media message or e-card – it shows you are thinking of that person.

“People actively want to use buying Christmas cards as an opportunity to support specific charities. By purchasing charity Christmas cards you are giving twice – sending a thoughtful message to the recipient of the card and also supporting a range of very deserving charities.”

Cards for Good Causes represents more than 250 charities including Cancer Research UK, Barnardo’s, NSPCC, Alzheimer’s Society and RNLI as well as selling cards for a range of local charities. Its network of shops is staffed by some 6,000 volunteers.

In the past ten years, charities have received more than £40 million from Cards for Good Causes, representing at least 70p in every pound, out of which charities have had to pay for the production and distribution of their Christmas cards and any VAT.

For further information visit cardsforcharity.co.uk or follow on Facebook or Twitter

In 1959, James “Jim” Jackson, eecretary of the British Diabetic Association, gathered a group of medical charities together to discuss the coordination of publicity for selling charity cards at Christmas.

In 1964, they began selling cards from empty shops in town centres. The name “Cards for Good Causes” was first mooted in 1971, but it was not until 1988 that it was formally established as the trading arm of The 1959 Group of Charities.