WATERSTONS' INTERNS HELP LOCAL CHARITY GO GLOBAL
October 2011

Waterstons' interns Jamie and Andrew have helped a local charity take a unique new fundraising initiative to a global audience.

Andrew Ruddick and Jamie Kitson spent their summer break from university developing an e-commerce site to support Barnard Castle YMCA’s new sports memorabilia shop. The site supports the Stars of Sport shop which is the first YMCA sports memorabilia shop in the world with all profits going directly to the charity.

Barnard Castle YMCA will use all profits from the shop and website to benefit the young community in the Teesdale area, providing a safe and welcoming environment which enables them to belong, contribute and thrive in their community.

The website can be found at www.starsofsport.co.uk. The site was developed using an open source e-commerce solution to minimise the on-going maintenance costs for the charity. Andrew and Jamie then customised the design and functionality of the site extensively. Items can be sold directly through the website for a fixed cost or as auction items through bespoke integration with eBay and PayPal. The content of the site, including images, stock descriptions and meta tags can be managed by the Barnard Castle YMCA team via an easy to use interface, again minimising on-going costs to the charity.

Kevin Wake, CEO of Barnard Castle YMCA said “The Stars of Sport concept is a fantastic opportunity to raise both funds and the profile of the YMCA. We have amazing sports memorabilia from stars like of Ian Botham, Pele, Freddie Flintoff, Andre Agassi and Frankie Detori which is sold from our shop in Barnard Castle. The opportunity to work with Waterstons to develop a website has enabled the shop to go worldwide and given us the chance to really make a difference to the young people and the community.”

Both Andrew and Jamie are currently studying towards degrees in Computer Science at North East universities and undertook this project as part of Waterstons’ summer internship scheme.

Andrew Ruddick said "As a first-year student, I had not even considered that an opportunity like this would be available to me at such an early stage in my studies, let alone a paid position with a company such as Waterstons.  It was invaluable to gain hands-on experience, an experience I would recommend to all in my position."