December News
Wishing you all a very happy and healthy Christmas and looking forward to working with you all again in 2023. It is also a time of reflection on those less fortunate than ourselves or those that we have lost in the year. The Scrubbery has lost some very dear friends this year, but we have not forgotten them.
Our work continues apace and if we stop to think how much we have achieved over the past 12 months it really is quite staggering. So, thank you to each and every one of you who has contributed to the effort.
Wellbeing bags have been our primary focus this month.
Amazingly we have managed to cut out, sew, do the embroidery, create the ties, find content and package up over 150 bags to three sites since our last update – what a huge effort and congratulations to all who played a part in that exercise.
We always have new requests coming in so do please come and help in whatever way you can with the next consignment!
Dear Rosie,
Thank you so much for the bags! The team were thrilled (there are big smiles behind our masks in the photo, let me reassure you!).
I know our team works very hard for patients with disabilities and this can be challenging sometimes so your bags really touched us and motivated us to keep going!
They were so popular that I know the other dental teams are also interested. I'll try to co-ordinate any future requests so that perhaps we could do everyone else in one go (if resource on your side allows, of course!).
Thank you to Sara for dropping them off too.
Kind regards,
Dr Richard Fitzgerald
Three more hospitals are interested in joining the program to replace disposable scrub hats and Royal London are trialling them as we speak.
Thank Yous due this month include but are not limited to:
Octopus Books – and in particular Rosa – for sourcing and sending through some amazing mindfulness books for our wellbeing bags – that are truly enlightening and are already in the next consignment of wellbeing bags heading out to junior doctors at Bart’s Hospital Trust. It could be very powerful as a mental wellbeing tool and is sent with our love and respect. If you get a chance to take a look at the books, they are very thorough, so we are most grateful to Octopus for that donation.
Staedler also needs a mention as they sent through another lovely gift of stationery, which will also form part of the wellbeing bags - so thank you, it is most generous of them.
My Putney Dentist – a huge debt of gratitude to them – we had no dental supplies for the bags, and they came up trumps with their donations just in time. Again, much appreciated from the recipients and us.
Shelley kindly collected the donations from My Putney Dentist
Balmonds have very kindly sent us a large donation of face salve – which is also a very popular item in the bags. Thank you from the Scrubbery but mainly from the frontline staff who benefit from these kind donations.
U3A Knitting Group for Wandsworth – they very thoughtfully donated a large selection of knitted items which Rosie has forwarded on to Little Village who were delighted, so thank you to one and all there. Thanks to Jill for organising this.
Thank you to Shelley who has taken on the administrator role for the Scrubbery and is updating all our records. We are thrilled to have this assistance.
Other news:
We completed another camouflage net to send to Ukraine – we are moving towards the winter colour schemes now. Also we have sent three consignments of scrubs along with a collection of requested items – clean duvets, clean winter clothing, thermos bottles, torches, batteries, hot water bottles and blankets. We think it is cold here but is much much worse over there and they have no power for a lot of the time, so these will be appreciated.
Putney Oasis Academy and us.
We continue to work on the school library – we have covered in plastic, stamped sorted and are about to catalogue a whole host of books. When the bookcases are put into place in the library, we can begin to stock the shelves – a very exciting moment for all those who have worked so hard to get it thus far.
Rosie also made two emergency Innkeeper’s Aprons for the school nativity to resolve a costume deficit at the last minute.
The sewing club that Rosie ran was making bunting this term, teaching the children about red work and how simple outline stitch can be very effective. Rosie designed the patterns based on a woodland theme along with some optional festive motifs. We think you will find the results charming.
Kitty knitted some lovely large Christmas figures which we donated to the Oasis Christmas Fair raffle.
Survive and Thrive Day
This was an event organised by the Royal London Hospital to “help rediscover your purpose and reignite your passion for paediatrics”. It was a full day program with many guest speakers, workshops and activities aimed at promoting surviving and thriving amongst paediatric trainees.
Rosie was invited to speak at this event by Dr. Nadia Audhali from BARTS HEALTH NHS TRUST, a BMA rep, who had seen what Rosie had initiated with her wellbeing bags and was so impressed she wanted Rosie to come and talk about it, and the journey that the Scrubbery has been on since the early days of the pandemic. In particular Nadia mentioned “the lovely bags with hand written thank you notes in them...” focussing on the positive effect the bags had on the recipients.
The talk was to take place at Stewart House near Russell Square in London. However, just as Rosie was about to leave, with boxes of eighty wellbeing bags for the delegates, in the snow, she received a message that it became a virtual event, because many people couldn’t make it in person. Rosie gave her talk remotely covering the Scrubbery origin story and the positive results for everyone involved in the Scrubbery journey. She was able to express real gratitude to the delegates for the work they have been doing. Rosie was really moved because as she talked people started to turn on their cameras, and this was a lovely touch because she had been looking forward to seeing the recipients in person. It is a busy time of year for Berni but he wiggled in time to kindly deliver the bags to the Barts NHS Trust too. Thanks so much to him for always being so helpful to us.
Once again we wish each and every one of you a very happy, peaceful and joyous Christmas. Thank you so much for everything that you have done for the Scrubbery.
Please note that the Scrubbery will be closed over Christmas so if you are intending to drop off kits or come and volunteer do please check with Rosie first that the Hub will be open.
We would welcome new volunteers to get all our ongoing projects over the line and to spread the load. If you know anyone who might be interested, just bring them in to meet Rosie and the team and let’s see what happens – they don’t have to be master craftspeople – we all have skills that can be extremely useful at the Hub.