A FORMER York charity shop manager was this afternoon selling her flat and most of her possessions before moving to Romania to help terminally-ill children.

Kaye Wainwright-Sands, of Shipton Road, will make the life-changing move just over a year after the tragic suicide of her postman boyfriend, Shane Leech.

Today's public auction of her possessions was being filmed by a camera crew and will feature in a new television series - Everything Must Go.

Until recently, Ms Wainwright-Sands managed the Scope shop, in Colliergate, York. She said: "I want to be concerned with someone else's misery other than my own, and I want to put something back into my life.

"Shane's death has led me to want to spread my wings a little - I need to get away and see things.

"It really is an open book for me, I could be there for six months, a year or for ever."

Ms Wainwright-Sands, aged 39, who has lived in York for eight years, will work in Romania's capital, Bucharest, for the children's charity Pavel. She plans to give the proceeds from the sale of her possessions to the charity, plus a donation of her own money. Items she was selling included antique furniture, books, jewellery, boxed puppets, period costumes, exotic plants and electrical goods. Ms Wainwright-Sands said she was unsure that buyers, plus a ten-person camera crew would fit into her one-bedroom flat. She has kept a number of personal items but said she must downsize her possessions to the stage where she can fit her life into a box.

Sarah Williams, of Hotbed Media, which is filming the series for ITV1, said: "This really is a unique home full of amazing furniture and collectibles.

"We want to invite everyone along to the sale for a spot of bargain hunting."

The auction was being held at Apartment 11, Ouselea, Shipton Road, from 4pm to 7pm. A transmission date for the programme has not yet been decided.

Updated: 11:13 Monday, April 29, 2002