Fatal fire repair appeal sees £25k raised in days

A fundraising appeal towards repairs to a listed timber-framed building which was devastated by a fire in which an elderly woman died, has raised more than £25,000 in its first week.

The appeal was started by Jessica Richards in memory of her mother, 81-year-old Rose Roberts, who died in the blaze at Perches House in Shrewsbury.

She is appealing for up to £500,000 to fully restore the building, with £100,000 of that total needed to carry out work to stabilise it in the short term.

Ross Callaghan, who runs the Shrewsbury Arts Trail with Richards, said the support shown by the local community was "absolutely amazing".

Roberts had lived in the house for four decades and Callaghan said she put "an incredible amount of effort" into preserving and restoring it.

The house was used as the location for Scrooge's office in a 1984 adaptation of A Christmas Carol and Callaghan said it was a "really historically important building for Shrewsbury".

He said it was unclear at this stage exactly how much money would be needed for the repairs and meetings to discuss the damage were still taking place.

But he said those who knew Roberts were "incredibly passionate about rebuilding this".

"I think we can really pull together and get this built very quickly," he added.

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