THAT 80s batwing jumper lurking at the back of your wardrobe could provide nursing care to help a sick or dying person.

That’s the message from the Sue Ryder Care charity shop in Abingdon, which is starting up a vintage and retro department in 2011.

Shop manager, Davina Wilkinson, 57, said: “Retro and vintage clothes, furniture and bric-a-brac are very much en vogue these days and we often have people asking for certain items from times gone by, so we are hoping Oxford Mail readers will have a dig through their wardrobes and help us create something really special, for a great cause.

“We are looking for all types of clothing, bags and shoes from the 1940s, through the 60s and right up to the 80s. Items such as pill box jackets, long tweed coats and 50s-style handbags, through to 60s slip dresses, 70s flares and clothes with shoulder pads which were popular in the 80s and are now very much so again.”

Sue Ryder care raises money for people with life-threatening illnesses such as motor neurone disease, Parkinson’s, MS and cancer.

And its nursing staff provide long-term and end-of-life care for people in their own homes.

Mrs Wilkinson added: “Every £100 raised by our shop pays for a whole day’s nursing care for a very poorly person – so every item you donate is helping another human being.”

The Abingdon Sue Ryder Care shop also stocks furniture and Mrs Wilkinson says good quality retro pieces are also being sought.

“When we get the clothing department up and running we hope to create some really fabulous room sets and window displays to tempt people into the store.

“The loss of shopping footfall in Abingdon has hit us as much as everyone and it would be great to create a destination store that brings people to Abingdon,” she said.

“We are asking people to give their wardrobes a good clean out for the New Year and donate anything they think we could use.

“And we are also hoping there are some people out there who have inherited rare or particularly valuable items of vintage or retro clothing, who will read this and decide they want to donate them to a really good cause like ours.”

The vintage rail will start on Monday, January 17, coinciding with Sue Ryder Care’s Best Month Ever campaign, which aims to raise £2,011,212 in just four weeks.

Donations of clothes, bric-a-brac, shoes and jewellery can be taken directly to the Abingdon store in Market Place or handed in at the Sue Ryder stores in Chapel Way, Oxford, and Sheep Street, Bicester.

A free furniture collection service is also available by calling 01235 521708.