By Helen Jones
I first heard about the nearly new sale (NNS) at Bumps and Babes where I was given a flyer for the April 2015 sale. I was instantly interested in registering as a seller as I’ve had my two children and was very keen to start clearing out the loft!
I offered to volunteer the night before and on the sale day as this meant I paid less commission. I thoroughly enjoyed making a contribution to the running of the sale, and even considered it valuable ‘me’ time (I have 2 children under the age of 4 so I take what I can get!).
During the pre sale the current co-ordinators announced they were stepping down and the sales could only continue if a group of volunteers were willing to take over. As I still had lots more to sell I ended up agreeing to take on the role the same day!
My first task was to attend the next Staines, Ashford and Egham (SAE) NCT committee meeting. It was really interesting and friendly and was held in someone’s house over tea, biscuits and wine! It was here however that I realised that I was actually ON the committee and I was THE co-ordinator. For some reason I thought I would helping out the NCT ‘employee’. The meeting taught me that everyone on the committee is a volunteer, and everyone is juggling young children and full or part time jobs.
I felt more confident after the handover session (back in someone’s house over tea, biscuits and wine!), it was clear that we were going to be heavily supported by the previous team and there was lots of information on the NCT volunteer website, Babble. We decided on a next NNS date of October 2015 to give us time to get everything ready.
Being the NNS co-ordinator (in a team of 3) involved booking the venue and equipment, advertising online and through poster and flyer distribution, delegating tasks to other committee members and registering the sellers. We shared these tasks between us and met / e-mailed regularly to check our progress. I probably spent about 4-6 hours doing this in the 3 months prior to the sale.
In the week of the sale we have a bag stuffing event (in someone’s house over tea, biscuits and wine – you should have noticed the theme by now!) where we place all the leaflets and freebies from advertisers in the sale bags and decide which jobs the sale day volunteers will be allocated.
The night before the sale we meet and instruct the volunteers and begin setting up the hall as sellers drop off their items. On the morning of the sale we finish setting up, manage the entrance / exit doors, run the tills, keep the items tidy, and pack away at the end. The actual sale day is really busy but so much fun and I love seeing local mums, dads’, grandparents and carers finding so many amazing high quality bargains!
I’ve organised two sales now, I am learning so much at each one and love being involved in the SAE NCT. I’ve made lots of new friends and so have our children. Volunteering is a great way to make a positive contribution to the local community and have fun at the same time.
Moving forward however we really need at least two people to become joint co-ordinators as I am currently the only one and cannot organise a sale on my own!
If you would like to make sure we can continue to run NNS sales in the future and are interested in finding out more please contact us on [email protected]
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Nearly New Sales: Being the Coordinator