Just a quick update on Friday morning at the baby bank . Karen worked through the all the newly donated shoes and got them all sorted and organised. Sheila K tackled the large sock drawer donations sorting this out all morning!

Carol and Helen were second-checking the clothes and putting them away. Once the table started to clear, Karen and Helen moved on to the bags of new clothing donations and started sorting those into first-check piles. It was a very productive morning despite the heat!

It was a busy morning at the Baby Bank! Carol began the session by sorting and taking inventory of donated shoes to identify shortages. She then moved on to organizing infant school uniforms, separating items like shorts, trousers, and dresses into clearly labeled boxes.

Helen managed the donation drop-off point, ensuring that items such as cots and buggies met safety standards. During quieter periods, she completed referral packages, which included essential items such as baby food, nappies, toiletries, and bedding.

Carol, Helen and Sheila gathered at the Baby Bank and were asked to sort out all the bedding. The cot and toddler bedding had all got mixed up, so we got the tape measure out and made sure everything was the right size, in the correct box, and separating any in double packs. It seems that not everything is a standard size! While we were sorting, some requests for bedding came in, so we were able to provide it straight away. The Baby Bank had acquired dozens of spider man-themed sheets, we shall be dreaming of those tonight! Every so often we were pulled off to help with other tasks, such as putting together toy referrals, carrying items to cars and accepting donations . Well done to Carol for coping with the paperwork for accepting a number of buggies. Great work, everyone!

Carol, Karen, and Helen took part in a very productive GoodGym mission at the baby bank on Friday morning. They began the session by sorting and storing new deliveries that had arrived. Karen and Helen cleared the doorstep donation area by moving the items upstairs while Carol assembled a cot bed. The team then worked to select equipment, cots and made up bags for collection. It was the first time Helen had done this type of task at the baby bank!

Another session at the Baby Bank and another huge pile of clothes to sort. It was nice to coincide sessions with Sue for a change, who usually goes on a Wednesday. Despite a team of corporate volunteers also being in, everything was calm and we had a productive morning quality-checking the clothes donations, with just the occasional 'Aw, that's cute' being uttered as we worked. Carol took on the most important task of the morning, making tea and coffee for all the volunteers

Another busy morning at the Baby Bank. 4 of us were put on the dreaded door duty - answering the door and accepting donations and handing out referral packs to the health professional requester. We were kept extremely busy, checking that donated prams, cots etc met all the safety standards and had the correct bits and pieces before we could accept them. We got our steps in carrying clothes and toy donations upstairs for checking. Everyone rose to the challenge and we all learnt much more about what can be accepted and also how to collapse modern prams! Sheila A was also put in charge of the referral phone for the first time, checking off when referrals were ready for collection, where they had been put, and when they had been collected. Rebecca and Lauren were extremely grateful for our help, freeing them up to do other things Sarah was upstairs - sorry, I didn't get a chance to catch-up with what you were doing, but I'm sure it was mega!