In July 2016, two pupils from Redborne Upper School in Ampthill attended work experience at Bedford eCommerce agency, Narrative Industries. The article below is one of the tasks they produced during their placement.
“We get donated underwear”
Yes from that quote you’re guessing what this article is about. It is, in fact, about charity shops… well, sort of. The charity shops of Bedford support a huge range good causes from animals to children and the homeless but we never hear about the people who work in them, the volunteers, because the focus is on the charities they help. So we thought it would be interesting to ask them about their stories.
“It’s a fun thing to do and you meet all areas of the public and all age” Sue from Sue Ryder
Charity shops are usually staffed by volunteers who have their own lives and stories, and that helps create the happy atmosphere that most charity shops have, but the customers, those who donate goods and their stories, also play an essential part.
“Wednesdays and Saturdays are always busy because the market is on,” the manager of the RSPCA told us.
There are plenty of stories about customers because they are so many different types of people who come in. “In [the TV show] Dinner Ladies they’ve all got their own little personalities that come through. The same thing happens here,” Adrian said about the customers in his shop. The type of customers depends on where the shop is, some customers might just be passing by and pop-in while others are looking for something in particular or have a link to the charity in some way. Sue from Sue Ryder said, “Most people who donate or buy from us … have a link with Sue Ryder due to ill health or family with illnesses.”
There are hundreds of stories about the donations and the crazy things that get sold in the shops. The staff have had experience with some of the most whacky and weird things which makes their job better. We couldn’t have expected some of the things the staff told us had been donated. Some were funny and some were just weird. “Once someone tried to donate chicken fillets,” Maggie from Sue Ryder told us.
“We had skis, it’s not really a snowy country but we’ve had skis.” Adrian Haynes.
“Somebody wanted to donate a table that turned into a sofa.” Manager of the British Heart Foundation.
“We had two spears from New Zealand which was a bit of a strange one.” Staff member from the British Heart Foundation.
“We have a lot of fun and the customers are kind too.” WoodGreen staff
The staff and volunteers in charity shops who work behind the counters and stock the shelves are often overlooked but they are real people, with interesting stories. The manager of The British Heart Foundation told us, “In 2013 I had a heart attack and the information that told me what was going on in my body, while I was in hospital, came from the British Heart Foundation. So it’s a charity I support.” Some stories involve incidents and illnesses and some involve unemployment or, in some cases, just their friends dragging them into it.
“I started volunteering when I was unemployed and I didn’t live in Bedford. And a position came up in the Heart Foundation so I moved,” said one of the staff at the British Heart Foundation.
Other people got involved from wanting to give something back because the charity was there for them when they needed it. “My husband was diagnosed with skin cancer a few years ago and he’s still ongoing treatment, so I thought it would be nice to give something back,” Sue said. These people are doing good and helping the charities that did good to them, they decided to volunteer and raise money to help more people and save more people’s lives, you could say they are heroes. Adrian Haynes had retired and he was in retail and involved with charities all his life. “I do love retail work and I’ve done it all my life and I know it, I know it inside out and I thought well if I came here I could help some more people,” Adrian told us.
We thank the people who let us interview them for sharing their stories with us….
Adrian Haynes from the Salvation Army , Sue and Maggie from Sue Ryder, the staff & manager of The British Heart Foundation, the manager of the RSPCA North Branch, the manager from Marie Curie, the staff from WoodGreen.
If you ever need one of these for making coffee, almost every charity shop we visited had one. Try it!
As a footnote, We at Narrative are very proud of what Abbie & Chris achieved, doing all the research, the interviews and photography themselves, as well as writing the piece and adding it to the TheBedfordClanger.com website.
