Northampton small business launches charity cushion to raise money for local theatre

A small Northampton business has created a new way to help support the local theatre during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gift shop brand Mooch is hoping to raise much-needed funds for the Royal & Derngate by selling more of the bespoke cushion design that was created as a request from a customer.

The brand, which has stores in St Giles Street, Queen’s Park, Towcester and Olney, has already taken an order for one of the cushions from a customer in Switzerland.

Rachel Roberts, who owns Mooch with her husband Paul, said: “The idea only came about on Saturday evening about 5.45pm.

“We make bespoke cushions for customers on requests anyway and this was one of them.

“It turned out beautifully, so I asked the customer if they minded if I shared a picture of it.

“I did and then one Facebook follower said it would be a good idea to sell these cushions and raise money for the Royal & Derngate.

“We came up with a proposition and checked with Jo Gordon and within about an hour we were selling them.

“It all happened on a Saturday evening, it was bonkers.”

Mooch is part of the Royal & Derngate business club, so Rachel and Paul were keen to support the theatre.

“We’re big fans of the theatre. We live in the town centre so we visit it a lot,” Rachel added.

“We are on our knees here. We’d normally donate but we have no income at the moment.

“It’s really hard. This is not something even in our worst case scenario planning.

“To think we have been closed for eight weeks is heartbreaking.

“But we always had in our heads that we would do what we could when we had the funds.”

The cushion, which has a graphic on it including the theatre’s name in a London-style road sign, has been available to buy online since Saturday (May 16).

Mooch has already received orders from customers living abroad, however the products are made locally.

Rachel said: “They’re all made in Northampton, by a lady in her home.

“She is struggling to get raw materials but we checked with her first and she said she can do it.

“We’ve had an order from Switzerland and our first order was from London.

“The lady who ordered from Switzerland had some connection to the theatre.

“We do get a lot of travelling actors in the shop and I guess production crews could be attached to the theatre.

“It’s been phenomenal. It’s one of those things, I only shared it on Facebook on Saturday evening and gave it another nudge yesterday morning and now it will run on its own for a while.”

The cushions are being sold at two prices so that customers can decide how much money they contribute to the theatre.

Mooch also contributes on every purchase, so 20 percent is paid to the theatre on the £40 cushion and 30 percent on the £45 cushion.

Shop the charity cushion here.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you