Hartlepool bank staff '˜feel the force' in Store Wars charity competition

Cashiers swapped the banking desk for the surroundings of a charity shop as part of a business competition.
Staff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Picture: TOM BANKSStaff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Picture: TOM BANKS
Staff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Picture: TOM BANKS

Workers at Santander could ‘feel the force’ when they took part in a Store Wars contest by taking over Hartlepool’s Barnardo’s shop, in York Road, for the day.

The North East region is competing directly with Santander branches in Northern Ireland for the event.

Staff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Pictured are Barnardo's shop manager Karen Scott and Santander manager Janet Watkins. Picture: TOM BANKSStaff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Pictured are Barnardo's shop manager Karen Scott and Santander manager Janet Watkins. Picture: TOM BANKS
Staff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Pictured are Barnardo's shop manager Karen Scott and Santander manager Janet Watkins. Picture: TOM BANKS
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Janet Watkins, director of Santander’s Hartlepool branch, said: “It’s been an absolutely brilliant day.

“Our star turn has been Steve Irish who has dressed up as Princess Leia from Star Wars, so he has got us quite a bit of attention when I made him walk from the bank to Barnardo’s!

“But we’ve had quite a few people come in and they have been really generous, particularly some of the older ones.

“We’ve had a tombola, cake stall and a raffle going on too, and people have been buying a lot of the stock as well.”

Staff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Pictured are Barnardo's shop manager Karen Scott and Santander manager Janet Watkins. Picture: TOM BANKSStaff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Pictured are Barnardo's shop manager Karen Scott and Santander manager Janet Watkins. Picture: TOM BANKS
Staff from Santander bank running Barnardos shop for a day in Store Wars competing against other branches. Pictured are Barnardo's shop manager Karen Scott and Santander manager Janet Watkins. Picture: TOM BANKS
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The premise for Store Wars sees teams of staff from different companies go into Barnardo’s charity shops to compete with each other to win.

Those who win are the teams who have increased store sales by the most amount in just one day of trading.

Since the launch of Store Wars over 10 years ago, the company says it has raised over £1million and worked with companies big and small across the UK, helping create team spirit, stronger relationships and fun outside of work for all staff.

Staff from Santander’s Middlesbrough and Newcastle branches have also been taking part in the fun.

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“The people at Barnardo’s have been amazing too and we’ve all had a fun day being here,” added Janet.

“We hope that we’ve managed to make a few thousand pounds and of course Santander will be matching it so we will have made a fair bit for the charity.”