The award-winning Bromsgrove independent DIY shop has boosted fundraising for its nominated charity - Dodford Children’s Holiday Farm – with a summer-long fundraising campaign to collect old, unused currency. Broad Street DIY has already raised more than £825 for the charity since the start of the year, helped by the initiative, and with further fundraising events planned, the retailer hopes to break the £1,000 mark by the end of the year.

At the start of July, the independent asked local people to donate any leftover currency from holidays abroad during the summer as well as foreign cash found lying around at home. All main currencies were accepted, as well as discontinued pre-euro currencies. A series of fun ‘Where in the World’ reminder posts on social media kept the fundraising campaign active through to the end of September.

Early in October, a staggering 21kg package of foreign currency was despatched to a specialist conversion organisation in London, which offers competitive rates of exchange for charities. A total of 54 different currencies had been donated, in varying amounts, and the total raised converted to an impressive £483.86.

The highest amount raised by a single currency was £144.93-worth of Euros. Other high-achieving currencies included £45.26 from US Dollars; £39.81 from obsolete Spanish Pesetas and £38.34 in Swiss Francs. Polish Zlotys raised £17.22.

More unusual currencies donated included Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible Marks, Chinese Yuan, Russian Rubles, and Bulgarian Leva. There was even 41 pence of Pre-decimal British coinage!

The amount raised included £4.50 worth of scrap metal from coins, which were impossible to exchange for a variety of reasons.

Commenting on the campaign, Broad Street director Lisa Childs said: “The total amount exceeded our expectations by a long shot! This is the most successful fundraising campaign we have ever run. I didn’t know we would get such a comprehensive breakdown of the currencies donated and the value raised from each – the results are fascinating. We are delighted to have raised almost £500 for Dodford Children’s Holiday Farm and sincerely thank the Bromsgrove community for supporting this initiative.”