THE team at DFS Ayr is celebrating after helping to raise more than £17 million for the British Heart Foundation (BHF) since 2012.

DFS Ayr, at Heathfield Retail Park, joined over 100 other stores across the UK and have collectively raised some £17,401,769.23 through their sofa donation project to help support the BHF.

The scheme allows DFS’ customers to have their unwanted sofa collected for free by the BHF when their new DFS one is delivered.

Their old sofa is then sold by the BHF in one of its 180 furniture and electrical stores across the country to fund research into some of the UK’s biggest killers including heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia.

Jen Anderson, Store Manager at DFS Ayr, said: “It’s sobering to think that on average, 435 people devastatingly lose their lives to cardiovascular disease every day – which is why it is essential that the BHF continues to fund pioneering life-saving research.

“Myself and the entire Ayr team are proud to support the British Heart Foundation. 

“We would like to say a big thank you to our customers for their amazing help in supporting such an important cause, by donating their old sofas.”

Mike Taylor, Commercial Director at the British Heart Foundation, added: “We’re so grateful to DFS and their customers for raising a huge £17 million since the partnership was formed in 2012.

"Thanks to the generosity of DFS customers, over 147,000 items of furniture that could have gone to waste, possibly even to landfill, have been given a new lease of life and have raised funds that help to power lifesaving heart research across the UK."