I have been a helper at the Loughborough sales for 9 years, and I love them! They
have saved me so much money over the years, kitting out my children. I remember at one
sale, a friend totalled up the approximate new cost of the items she had bought. They would
have come to over £700. (She had paid £80). These amazing savings are what make many
of our buyers and volunteers come back year after year. We have even increased the age of
the children’s clothes up to 14, at the request of our sellers and buyers, as they didn’t want to
stop coming!
For our last sale we moved to Loughborough Student’s Union. It is always daunting moving
to a new venue, as we are never quite sure how it will work out on the day. However, with the
brilliant handover notes from Liv, our previous coordinator, and the help of Claire, our new
Sale Coordinator, and the amazing support of the staff at the Union, we had a fantastic sale.
The new, larger café was wonderful for parents to sit, have a rest and a coffee from Starbucks,
and a cake from our stall. There was plenty of room to display all the toys, books, DVDs,
games, dressing up items, large goods, shoes and clothes.
The sale organisation starts months before, making plans for the day, making sure we have
enough volunteers for each area, and sending out seller packs. Then nearer to the sale, we
stuff 250 goody bags to hand out at the tills with lots of great free samples and flyers form
local companies.
This sale, we had an amazing 72 volunteers come to help us on the Friday night set up and
on the sale day. Tasks include making the sandwiches for the volunteers lunch, helping to
pack goods or running a till, helping out on the front door, in the car park, helping on the
cake stall, and in the toys or clothes halls. The perk of volunteering is to attend the preview
sale before we open the doors, so you get first dibs on all the bargains. It is also an amazing
day, when many friends get to say hello, enjoy a natter and help us raise much needed funds
for the NCT local branch and all our national projects.
Our next sale is on 22nd April at the Students Union. If you would like to sell or volunteer
on the day, we will be opening up registration very soon, so keep an eye on our website and
facebook. Alternatively, if you would like to help us organise the sales, we are always looking
for more people to join our team of around 15 people who come to meetings and bag stuffing evenings. We meet at the Student’s Union or at the Toby Carvery.
Can I say a huge thank you to all our amazing volunteers. Also, to all the staff at the Students
Union, who helped so much in moving tables and getting the venue ready for us, THANK
YOU!!!
Can we also say thank you to Sainsburys and Tesco who donated food towards the volunteer’s lunches. This was greatly appreciated.
- Michelle Hamilton
12