The Baby Bank had put out a call to all their regular volunteers to come and help get the facility back on track. Donations had been coming in faster than they could be checked and sorted, and the floor had all but disappeared under the bags! Karen and Sheila joined several other volunteers, and the place was buzzing with activity as we sorted the clothes, and we made definite progress. We were so busy I forgot to take any photos, so I used a stock one instead!

Only one Good Gymer today, Sheila K, but two Duke of Edinburgh volunteers kept her company on today’s mammoth task. Customers who returned newly purchased clothing items to an overseas retailer would be blissfully unaware that these items did not actually go back overseas. Instead they have been gathered together and despatched in bulk to the Baby Bank. Today’s task was to open up the mountain of parcels and sort the contents into piles of underwear, tops, bottoms and swimwear. Further sorting will be needed as the Baby Bank will not be issuing out any of the more skimpy underwear to their clients!

With many regular volunteers away on holiday, it was a quiet morning at the Baby Bank. The piles of unsorted clothes had grown since last week, and the tables were once again stacked high, waiting for their second check.

Undeterred, Carol — the lone GoodGymer this week — spent the whole morning methodically checking each item and sorting it into the correct place. A solo effort, but a productive one — and another dent made in the ever-growing mountain of donations!

4 GoodGymers helped out at the Baby Bank this morning. Our first task was to unpack and store 25 staircases which had been delivered that morning. Once these had all been neatly packed away, we moved upstairs. Karen and Sheila K did secondary checking and putting away of donations that had already been checked once by a corporate team. Meanwhile Carol and Sheila A were let loose in the uniform room. At this time of year we get so many requests for school uniform, so we made a start on some of the requests. We quickly had to get up to speed with the colour requirements of all the different schools (why do so many still require logo-ed items???). And questions such as, what is the chest size of an average 10-year old? Unfortunately we could not fulfil all requested items, but anything we can provide will be a great help to families who can not afford such an outlay

Four GoodGymers — Carol, Sheila, Helen, and new recruit Charlotte — lent a helping hand at the Baby Bank today. Although the bank was officially closed and not accepting public donations, quite a few still arrived, and their generous contributions were gratefully received.

With no corporate volunteers on site, it was down to the GoodGym crew to tackle the mountain of pre-sorted clothes needing a second check. Our volunteers sifted through piles of donated items, carefully sorting them into boxes ready for referrals, or into overflow bags when the boxes were full.

When we arrived, the tables were piled high — but thanks to everyone’s teamwork and determination, we left with most of them cleared. A productive and satisfying session!

Carol and the two Sheilas volunteered at the Baby Bank this morning. We were confronted with a huge piles of clothes on the table which had been through the first sort, but needed checking again and putting away in the boxes or overflow bags. Sheila K and Carol started at one end with the baby stuff, and Sheila started at the teenage end, and our aim was to meet in the middle. Which we managed to do by the end of the session - it's not often that we see that table clear. Next week's job will be to tackle all the new donations that have arrived in the last week or so, and fill the table up again!