OCTOBER may have only just arrived, but plans have already been announced for the "pop-up" Cards for Good Causes shop at Ledbury's Heritage Centre, in Church Lane.

The shop is by now something of a festive tradition in Ledbury, and this year it will open for the season on November 2

A spokesman said: "If you’re looking for the biggest range of Charity Christmas Cards, look no further than the Ledbury Heritage Centre where Cards for Good Causes returns for another season.

"As well as a fantastic range of cards, and each shop aims to represent at least 25 different charities, Ledbury also supports Fight for Sight; Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, Motor Neurone Disease and St Michael’s Hospice."

The spokesman added: "A new range of Christmas goods and gifts will be available and this year, for the first time, delicious, novel edible goodies."

Cards for Good Causes supports more than 250 national and local charities on line. But more than the financial support to each charity that selling their cards provides, it also helps to raise public awareness of the vital work they do.

The spokesman said: "This astonishing number of ‘pop-up’ shops, more than 300 U.K wide, can only be made to work by the dedicated support of the volunteers up and down the country, so if you have some time why not find out more by calling in at the Heritage Centre and speaking to either Maggie Brocklehurst or Pauline Smith?"

In 1959, Cards for Good Causes, as it later became known, was the brainchild of James Jackson, secretary of the British Diabetic Association who gathered together a group of medical charities to discuss the coordination of publicity for selling charity cards at Christmas to maximise profit and in 1964 they began selling cards from empty shops in town centres.

The spokesman said: "Now you can find Cards for Good Causes in Churches; libraries; community centres; tourist information centres and museums. It was not until 1988 that Cards for Good Causes was formally adopted as the name of the trading arm of the 1959 Group of Charities.

"Come along and find us in The Heritage Centre, Church Lane, Ledbury; we’ll be open Monday to Saturday from 10am until 3.30om. from November 2 until December 11." The spokesman added: "Look out for our distinctive triangular Red Santa sign!"