90-year-old Cecily Wood worked her last day at Brecon Vintage, Antique, Craft & Collector’s Market on Saturday, November 25 in Brecon Market Hall.

Cecily, a retired school teacher, spent many of her early years trading in the London markets and has been present at Brecon’s vintage markets for the past 23 years.

After 53 years of working at markets in London, Kent and Brecon, Cecily has decided to retire.

Fellow traders at the market held a presentation for Cecily where she received a goodbye card.

She said: “It’s been great fun, a lot of hardwork! Now my sight is affected it really is difficult for me. I can’t do it on my own, so someone has to come with me. I’ll miss this, I didn’t want to retire but one of my daughters has to come along and they take it in turns, but due to where they live I can’t keep asking them, but it’s been a lot of fun.

“I don’t make a thing but most of the stuff is what people have asked me to sell or items I find and sell them all for charity.”

Cecily began trading initially to raise money for a Brownies group that her daughters were attending and continued trading at markets for other charities.

She told the Brecon & Radnor Express: “I started doing it when one of my daughters joined the Brownies, and my two other girls did the Girl Guides and the Scouts.

“In the village where we lived in Kent, the firm that owned the village hall offered to sell it to the village. Therefore, we had to raise money to buy the village hall and following that I was introduced to the London Street Market which was hard work.

“My husband hated me doing it but I did it anyway every third Sunday; that’s where I learnt my trade I think and made a lot of mistakes.”

Cecily has recently been raising money for Brecon Molo Community Partnership, who run projects supporting disabled people in Kenya, including children’s therapy and sitting volleyball for adults in the Molo area.

She has also raised money for Appropriate Paper Based Technology for Social Development, a small charity based in Talybont training people in Kenya to make assistive devices for children with disabilities to help them to stand and sit.

Cecily supports these charities due to her youngest daughter, who went and worked out in Kenya. Cecily said: “My youngest daughter and her husband went out to Kenya. She went as a doctor, so I used to support that through the markets. I still support that now. They were out there for nine years but they’re back now.”

Any items that didn’t sell at Cecily’s stall on Saturday went to a charity shop in Abergavenny that supports a charity focussed on cerebral palsy.

In Cecily’s final message to other members of the market in Brecon, she said: “Thank you for all your friendship and support especially from the charities for which you have helped raise money.

“I have enjoyed every minute, have made many friends, and will miss our market days together.”