August 2024 News
Over the summer, with the school out we have been operating with a single planned volunteering day of Wednesday. Thank you to those who have turned up on these days. Tasks for the summer included trench candles, processing foil blankets, and dye days for camouflage fabric. We are also rushing to finish 100 well-being bags which need to be cut and sewn before the end of August. Assistance is also needed to process and cover books for the school library. Plenty of choice of activities.
Scrubs tunics and trousers:
Thanks in part to Rosie’s successful lobbying of the NHS supply chain, staff uniforms of all description have been redesigned, upgraded and made more practical. The choice on offer to the NHS has been rationalised to increase consistency among various NHS Trusts. As a result, there is obsolete stock available. The NHS trusts have been notified about the Scrubbery’s work and those willing to co-operate have been collecting redundant and second-hand stock to send on to Ukraine. Thanks go to Gillian, one of our volunteers who has been all over the country to facilitate this initiative.
Kids Just Recycle:
The Oasis Academy has a textile bin at the back of the building. They receive payment per weight of suitable garments. Any obsolete NHS uniforms, unsuitable for use in Ukraine, can be recycled there. Everyone can deposit clean used clothing and shoes in this bin.
Commander Igor
On July 30th, Rosie met Igor who oversees the Ukrainian battalions at the front line in Kharkiv. This is where Olga has been delivering most of our recent medical and humanitarian aid. Igor is in the UK for medical reasons.
He has requested camouflage netting in autumn colours. He raised a concern about the plastic in some nets which can be seen at night by the Russian drones so we have to test the netting before we start. He is also going to update images of the terrain to improve colour matching.
Deliveries:
The last of the scrubs went to St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital in Lviv.
Olga has now upgraded her transport from borrowing her husband’s van to a second hand Mercedes sprinter van like the one Rosie drove to Ukraine. Kharkiv hospital has received a huge number of scrubs, tunics and trousers passed on from the NHS Trusts.
107 little girl’s dresses and 43 pairs of shorts have been shipped to the Catholic University Volunteer Corps which distribute items throughout Ukraine to refugees, displaced persons and children’s homes. Nadia from Medical Lifelines Ukraine has also delivered scrubs, scrub hats, boxes of Ibuprofen and Paracetemol, and other items sourced by the Scrubbery.
Camouflage helmet netting. We send strips of fabric with the net so the soldiers can customise their own helmets. The nets have been knitted and crocheted by our volunteers.
Oasis Academy:
Eco Reading Challenge Assembly:
The Deputy Mayor, Councillor Finna Ayres, previously a Scrubbery volunteer, kindly agreed to present the certificates and prizes at a special assembly to mark the end of the Eco Reading Challenge. In a short talk she made several points.
Students just like you are the future for our precious planet and how you think and behave now can make a difference and help to slow climate change for example. Anyone here who read even a single eco-book has taken the first steps to make that difference and we hope that you will apply what you have learnt and put it into action. We want to celebrate everyone’s effort and to congratulate those who managed to finish their booklet which is no small feat. Whilst the eco-reading challenge has finished for this year everyone’s work has just begun.
The challenge was set up by the Scrubbery in collaboration with Putney High School. The children were asked to read a significant number of books over two terms. At the end, Rosie asked every child who had read at least one book to stand up. Nearly every child in the school stood up.
Thames Explorer Trust and Wildfowl and Wetland Trust:
Kate, a Scrubbery volunteer who works with the Thames Explorer Trust and Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, kindly came in to give a 10 minute presentation as part of the Assembly.
The school has also won a Green Flag award. This is part of the Keep Britain Tidy Campaign.
“Applying for Eco-Schools accreditation is the perfect way to acknowledge, reward and celebrate the ecological achievements of young people. It clearly demonstrates that their hard work is appreciated, and it provides them with the confidence and motivation needed to continue actively engaging with environmental issues throughout their lifetimes. Finally, it also tells local communities that a school, college or nursery is forward-thinking and promotes youth-led environmental education and action.”
Nurture Room:
Elisabetta, the SEN co-ordinator at the school is setting up a Nurture room for the children to use and has asked for help with preparing and furnishing it.
Susan has already made a quilt for the wall. A Scrubbery volunteer offered to donate a two seater sofa to be collected by July 30th. Elisabetta was moving house and hoped to use the removal van for transport but the timings did not work. Elisabetta then hoped to enlist a friend with a van but they then tested positive for Covid. It was time for Rosie’s mantra: “What is the end goal and how to achieve it.” Rosie, Christo, Raphael and an unsuspecting visitor from New Zealand resurrected the TD’s old BMW, which hadn’t been driven in months but which has a set of roof bars. Remedial work included tyres, oil, new battery and cleaning off months of leaves and bird detritus before the sofa could be hoisted onto the roof and driven gingerly down Roehampton Lane, across the railway bridge and safely to the Oasis Academy.
Success!
