After a successful trip to the Hive a couple of weeks a go, tonight we were at Swindon Night Shelters The Hub shop & cafe. As we all started to arrive Ian, the Social Enterprise Manager welcomed us in with Lily arriving fashionably late. Ian explained to us some of the new challenges Swindon Night Shelter had faced, and overcome, during the recent pandemic and the new challenges they face as the restrictions begin to ease and we start to learn what the new normal has in store. With a quick safety briefing which included ‘knees bent, back straight, ra ra ra 👏🏻’, we set off in our pairs.

Pair 1 at the front of the store, Kirsty and Sam had the task of cleaning the large shop windows, the till area and moving the heavy bench which was hand crafted by the service users during the lockdown period. All whilst dancing round the basket of balls, trying not to knock it over ⚽️🎾. Pair 2, Gina and Helen were tasked to clear off all the shelves and give them a thorough clean ready for Megan, the Deputy Manager, to restock. The champagne glasses caught Gina's eye but they were disappointed to only find pawsecco on the shelve 🥂🍾. The final pair and completing our ‘ladies night’ team, Lily and Teresa took on the task of cleaning the kitchen cupboards 🧼 This area is usually used to provide for the cafe area. Unfortunately this is closed at the moment, so there was no cake in sight 🍰

Megan explained that the tasks we completed tonight were jobs she was unable to do whilst the shop is open and would have taken her a lot of time alone. She was most grateful she could restock the shop the following morning with a fresh and clean start. We all headed home with a sense of achievement, shopping bags full of new goodies purchased and some of Lily’s home grown courgettes 🥒 picked just this morning!