Carol, Karen, Jane and Sheila all volunteered at the Baby Bank this morning. After settling into our normal routine of checking clothes and filling up the referral boxes from the overflow bags, the recycling van arrived to collect all of the textiles that had not passed the quality check. Fun was had forming a human chain to move the bin bags from upstairs, rolling them down the stairs and into the van. Sheila left the others to it, to join another volunteer to collect donations from a collection point in the shopping centre in Slough. What was supposed to be donated second hand uniform turned out to be a huge bin full of any old rubbish that people felt like putting on there - including dirty and damaged clothing, old curtains, a frying pan, household bills, drinks cans and even a bag of wet nappies. Yuk! We recovered very little that we could use, and an estate car full of bags for the tip and the textiles recyclers. Live and learn!

4 GoodGymers helped out at the Baby Bank this morning, and were asked to do the clothes sorting upstairs. It was great to welcome Jane back for her second session, and she joined Carol and Karen doing a second check on clothes that already been through a first check by a corporate team. Meanwhile Sheila helped put together Referral packs. One was for a mother and her 3 daughters who had received clothes only last week. Unfortunately the flat below theirs had caught fire and they lost all of their possessions too. So tragic - they were left with only the clothes they were wearing. Some of the age groups we are short of clothes for anyway, but we put together what we could for them.

Just Karen today at the Baby Bank but she got stuck in bringing multiple bags of donated clothing up the stairs to clear space in the entrance. The rest of the morning was spent checking and sorting school uniform into the appropriate boxes so it can be given out to needy families. There is currently a massive backlog of clothing which needs to be sorted so if anyone fancies giving a hand then please sign up on a Friday!