6 GoodGymers helped out at the Baby Bank for another busy session. Welcome back to Winnie for her second session, and Sue for her third. Sue, Winnie and Jane were in charge of doing the first checks on clothing donations, keeping Karen busy doing a secondary check and storing them away in the correct boxes. Carol and Sheila were asked to sort out all the socks. Firstly we had to move half the crates of shoes in order to accommodate the sock shelving and then it was on to the sorting. We labelled up the boxes for the different sizes and then made sure that all the socks were new and in the correct boxes ( SO many ladies tights!). More difficult than it sounds, but we managed to finish the task by the end of the session and hopefully it will make finding the right socks easier in future

Five Goodgymers helped out at the Baby Bank this morning, including Winnie for whom this was her very first community mission, and Sue who was returning for her second. We all settled down to quality checking the clothes donations, with Winnie quickly learning the ropes. Great progress was made, but as ever, plenty of donations were still coming as we worked so there will still be plenty to do next week! Thanks to Winnie for adding these comments: The briefing was clearly given It's easy to get on and volunteers/staff from the organization are very friendly too. I am impressed with the organized systems to make sure the donated materials can be in use in a most decent, efficient and respectful way.

Overall, it is an enjoyable experience.

Was nice to see the amazing work this team are doing, hopefully helped a little too 🙂 Lovely to see Carol back from her travels and to welcome Shelley to her first Baby Bank mission. We certainly helped clear the decks ready for the next clothes-sorting session. A never-ending task!

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!