December 2024 News

Storage

For compliance reasons, we have been asked to clear our storage area on the viewing platform over the hall and in the corridor outside the staffroom. This means we no longer have any capacity to store aid. Therefore, we will have to rationalise how we are working in this building and what we can do.

We will focus on our core mission which is helping people to help through their work: still sewing, still making camo netting and trench candles, still making scrubs etc.   

However the Scrubbery will now only collect aid for Ukraine on specific targeted dates, with the aim of sorting and shipping immediately, to avoid storing anything on the school premises. Therefore please watch for the call out for these special collections and in the meantime do not bring in anything without checking beforehand. This arrangement will stay in place until we can find other local storage solutions or alternative delivery partners who can accept aid piecemeal.

Help

In the light of this, could anybody living close to the school, make available some dry, clean storage space for a consignments worth of aid, up to 30 bin bags. Please could anyone with any suggestions email Rosie privately.

Ukraine

We have a new delivery partner, Pickups for Peace. Their mission is to supply donated four-wheel drive vehicles, ambulances and quad bikes loaded with urgently required aid to the people of Ukraine. So far 16 convoys have delivered 497 vehicles. The Scrubbery has sent 2 shipments with them to Lviv so far.

Please be assured that all our contributions are being delivered. Occasionally we receive photos from Ukraine but generally it is too dangerous. The drivers have to deliver at speed. In addition, the ability to geolocate a phone makes it dangerous to use.

Supplies needed

We are currently only collecting the following small items. Donations of Ibuprufen, Paracetamol, cold and flu remedies, Vicks Vapour Rub and small medical items are still welcome.

Trench Candles

Church candlewax- any colour, any size, any condition to be melted down for trench candles. This work has become increasingly urgent as Russia is remorselessly targeting the Ukraine energy infrastructure.


Thank You Department

Rosie would like to offer a huge thank you to Cheryl and Peter for their help and generous support. Cheryl is a knitting genius who creates the most beautifully knitted clothes and toys made from oddments of wool.  Thank you too Jenni for all your lovely knitted children’s cardigans and jumpers they are so gratefully received.

Thanks to a team from the BSI, organised by Julia , who helped us to arrange a corporate camouflage net day. The team worked a whole tennis net  in a single day!  They wrote messages of support to the troops who will receive the net and we tied them onto the leading edge so that they can be easily seen. 

Thank you to everyone who helped with the reverse Advent calendars. 

There are 180 families in Roehampton identified as being in a state of  financial and food insecurity. The Scrubbery helps these people all year with the supply of overbakes from Gail’s via Roehampton Community Box but at Christmas we always do a little more. This year we invited people on their own, or in groups with family, friends and neighbours to make reverse advent calendars for these families. 

Traditionally, advent calendars count down the days in the run up to Christmas with most comprising a series of doors or pockets which hold a small gift for each day. The reverse advent calendar invites participants to DONATE rather than to receive each day. This culminates in a collection of 24 Christmas goodies to deliver to a struggling local family.

They have now been delivered to Roehampton Community Box for distribution. Many thanks again to contributors.

Thanks to Gillian for transporting a consignment of 190 of our drawstring bags to Dan at FoodBank in Wandsworth. We were especially keen to get these to the charity before Christmas when demand for food parcels is so high. They are used to pre-assemble selections of goods, especially toiletries. Particular thanks to Kathleen, a new volunteer, who made several of these bags for us at home.

Sewing club has finished for the term, thank you so much to everyone who helps to make this possible. This term in sewing club we made a Sugar Cookie Bag and hand-beaded felt cookies - a shortbread round with icing and sprinkles and a gingerbread man. The children received their certificates and finished items in a special assembly last week and interestingly they reported that they had been looking forward to this even more than going to the Christmas Disco which was happening on the same day.

Time for a celebration?

The Scrubbery will be 5 years old on 26th January 2025. Do people like the idea of a celebration? We would welcome any ideas you may have for a get-together. Tea party? Workshop? Would anyone be prepared to organise it? Please don’t suggest team bonding over the camo netting!