BBC Happy Valley star becomes an ambassador!

Actor Rhys Connah, Ryan in the BBC hit TV show Happy Valley, has become an ambassador for us, after a year in which we’ve become firm friends!

Rhys agreed to open our 14th charity shop in Hebden Bridge a year ago and we welcomed Rhys for a private visit to Russell House in June 2023.

After meeting staff and children and seeing our outstanding facilities, Rhys was keen to do more to help and offered to run a forest skills day, drawing on his scouting experience. With Rhys’ help and encouragement, children and siblings we support built a den in our garden using fallen branches and twigs from a nearby wood and created bird feeders and bug hotels.

Rhys also attended our Celebration Ball at Cedar Court Hotel in Bradford in March with his family, greeting fans with a smile and posing for selfies.

And on March 13th he returned to where it all began, our shop in Hebden Bridge, for our volunteer buffet – an annual thank you we do in every shop to thank our volunteers for all they do to help run the shops.

Rhys said: “It’s great to be back at Hebden Bridge today to mark one year since I was here to open Forget Me Not’s second charity shop in the town. I’ve loved spending time with the staff and volunteers and it’s brilliant to see how well they’re doing.

I’ve been a big fan of Forget Me Not’s since I visited the children’s hospice and saw some of the amazing work they do there to support children and families. And I loved spending time with a group of children last summer practising our forestry skills in the hospice’s beautiful garden. That’s when I knew I wanted to do more. It’s because of the support of the whole community raising money for Forget Me Not that the charity exists at all. That’s why I’m proud to have become an official ambassador for the children’s hospice and hope to help them do more of what they do!”

By becoming a Forget Me Not ambassador Rhys joins a select group of highly valued supporters, including our patron Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice and ambassadors Paralympic Champion Hannah Cockroft, Rugby League player Michael Lawrence, BTCC driver Dan Lloyd, golfer Rochelle Morris and Huddersfield Giants talisman Eorl Crabtree.