February this year was the first of 2014 charity shops, we rent it for 1 week every few months. On the Friday myself and my friend Paula go to storage and get the stock out, Oli and Callum transport it to the shop and we meet my friends Anne and Rose there. Then the work really begins as we unpack and get it ready for a busy week. We open on the Saturday so no time to be wasted we all crack on and have a job to do. Its amazing what you can achieve when you work together or as some would say when I boss them around – but in the nicest possible way of course.

Well on Saturday we opened and after 20 minutes of opening I was a little concerned we hadn’t had many in. My mum reminded me we hadn’t been open all that long and people don’t usually open on Saturday so word has to get round. Well word certainly spread fast and people were coming in saying it was lovely to see us back. They love us and our quality items, not to mention our bargains.

Our members Tracey and Wendy came later with a car full of goodies and within 10 mins of Tracey bringing the items in we had sold £50 worth to a customer. For one particular item we had 2 people interested in the shop there and then, it was a Tutankhamun DVD holder not much shorter than me – it was fab. We had fun putting together all kinds of things and the girls were great unpacking and serving, thank you both. Sunday my nephew Matt came to help and he drives a hard bargain I can tell you. He was also the boss for the day and made me wear heart shaped ear muffs all day.

Thank you to all our helpers that week – my mum Maureen, Pearl, Izzy, Nic, Pat, Dave, Anne and Rose for opening. Thank you to Di and Jackie for Fri night. Thanks to everyone who donates excellent quality items to sell. Thank you also to Paula, Anne, Rose and Linda who help me sort out the donations each week and rack clothes and to Oli and Callum for the transport. Finally thank you to Michele who helped pack the shop up for closing on the Friday.

Our congratulations to Lily Clough who successfully climbed the Uhuru peak on Mt. Kilimanjaro.  As well as the shear challenge, Lily was raising funds for the Children’s Heart Association.

Here are some photos from her adventure:

Congratulations and our thanks to Kevin Fitzsimmons who has raised over £300 for the Association competing in the Eden Project marathon.  Kevin says

“Completed the Eden Project marathon in 4hours 8mins absolutely crazy course (forests,big puddles, mud to your ankles, down country lanes, up big hills including scrambling up one huge one) with crazy weather (rain with thunder and lightning) but it was all good fun and for a great cause!”