Four members of Whitby Civic Society travelled over the moors to Pickering on a rainy Saturday in order to investigate Pickering Civic Society’s ‘Give or Take day’.
Held in the Memorial Hall from 9 am to 4 pm, we arrived at 11.30 am to a hall buzzing with people. Volunteers directed us to the tables and we put down our goods. We had brought bags of items ranging from padded envelopes, new scientist magazines, slippers, books and a duvet with us.
As we were going in several people left with a child’s bicycle, an oil-filled radiator and a set of wooden stools.
Stalls available were gardening / plant-pots, computers / televisions and small electrical gadgets (all tagged with a label that they had not been safety tested), bric-a-brac / crockery, books/ DVDs/ videos, toys / furnishings and clothes. Any item that would fit in a car could be brought. Any items that were too big to transport in a car could be photographed and a telephone number left with the photograph.
There were also two ladies who were sewing shopping bags for charity, and the local Lions had a stall with their ‘emergency bottle’ service. Coffee, tea, biscuits and cake were available for a donation and there were tables and chairs made available for ‘non - shoppers’ to sit at.
Once we had put down our donations we all got busy ‘non – shopping’ around the stalls. As people came in and un-loaded their bags happy ‘non-shoppers’ arrived to take the un-wanted possessions to a new home. We got several ‘bargains’ including table lamps, videos, crockery, flower baskets, toys, a vase, a kettle and a radio.
Other items available included Venetian blinds, kitchen worktops (with a phone number for anyone who wanted a bigger worktop), clocks, curtains – allsorts of things that were once needed but were now surplus to requirements.
After half an hour - ‘non-shopping’ we had coffee in the café area and then went round again to see what stock had just come in! You could stay all day and get the bargains as they came in!
The people of Pickering gave the day lots of support - many bringing donations ready for the start of the day at 9 am. The memorial Hall was an ideal venue as it is very accessible by car and central to Pickering. We parked the car around the corner at the Cooperative supermarket pay-and-display car park.
We understand the hall rent for the day was paid for by the Ryedale District Council and at the end of the day local charity shops would be given pick of the remaining goods and any unwanted items would be disposed of by the council.
The idea behind the event was to cut down on the amount of goods that are going to landfill and also to do a bit of recycling. The morning was also a very sociable event and most of us ‘non-shoppers’ were delighted with the goods we took home!
Those of us from Whitby Civic Society thought we would also like to hold a ‘Bring and Take day’ in a suitable central venue (with access by car) in Whitby, perhaps we could get the Whitby Lions or Rotary to join forces with us (?) and if we do, we will invite the Whitby Pickering Society and Pickering Lions to come through and share in our day!
Thank you very much indeed Pickering Civic Society! Maureen Eves 20 March 2010
Bring and take event.
It was decided to go ahead with this event for the Whitby Civic Society as having a useful enviromental function. West Cliff Primary School was booked for Saturday November 6
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