Spring Edition - March 2021
Spring is a time for optimism for the coming months the dark days of winter are gone; new growth — it’s beginning all around us — trees and plants are in blossom; new beginnings — new life is emerging, new opportunities and possibilities are becoming available, the easing of lockdown rules for a start; the vaccine is now being offered to the 50+ age group and is rolling out fast, so some of us will have had at least our first one, which in turn means the infection rate is dropping rapidly — hurrah!
Happy recipients of our wellbeing bags at Charing Cross Hospital
With that in mind, we thought you might like to read some light-hearted / uplifting stories from our amazing group of volunteers. We asked them to tell us some of the good things that have come out of the lockdown, such as what they had learned, acquired new friends or skills, money savings, or creative discoveries.
Enjoy the read and feel free to share any others in the coming weeks.
How could I, at 55 years of age, forget the immense pleasure of sewing (clothes, embroidery, crochet, tapestry etc)?! So, I have sewn two cross stitch pieces and two bargello pieces and have found the beauty of sewing inner peace. All thanks to the confidence to create, encouraged by wonderful Rosie and her team.
Things I have learnt since being a part of The Scrubbery.
1. Mice really like After Eights.
2. When hand sewing, the optimum length of thread to use should be measured from the tip of your index finger to your elbow.
3. Overlockers work best when you remember to switch them on.
4. You can clean a dirty iron by rubbing a paracetamol tablet over it.
5. It’s best to use thread in the direction that it comes off the spool as it has a twist in it which makes it feed through the needle more easily.
6. Cutting fabric neatly isn’t nearly as easy as it looks.
7. The expression “to be on tenterhooks” originates from the little (tenter) hooks used to stretch fabric over a frame to stop it shrinking, and the holes that the hooks leave make it possible to tell which side of the fabric is the right side as you can feel the braille like bumps on the edges when you run your finger over them.
8. Mice don’t like organic crunchy peanut butter.
9. No sewing machine breakdown, however catastrophic, is too bad for Rosie to repair.
10. If there is something wrong with the stitching on top of the fabric, it usually means there’s a problem with the bobbin; if there is a problem with the stitching under the fabric, change your needle.
11. Back neck facings are notoriously tricky to attach correctly.
12. The latch hook to turn Rouleau loops is much harder to use than you would expect and, once broken, getting the broken end of one from inside a drawstring is nigh on impossible (Sorry Rosie!).
13. If something is cut on the bias it means that it has stretch when you pull it, but a stretchy v-neck means you need to unpick the yoke and start again….
14. Every scrap of fabric, however tiny, can be used for something.
15. If you have ink on fabric apply hairspray and put it in the washing machine. Repeat until the ink has all gone.
16. The most frequent for retiring bed linen and donating it elsewhere appears to be because it has ink on it...
17 .Everybody involved with The Scrubbery is AMAZING and has made the past 12 months more positive and enjoyable than I could ever have imagined.
I have become the pillowcase bag lady. Unlike Rosie I do not find sewing relaxing. On a good day, I might sew on a button or name tape and cobble up a hem but for me sewing is needles that unthread, tangled cotton and frustration. Not an obvious Scrubs volunteer but I have learnt..
1) in over a 1000 pillowcases sorted there has been hardly any repetition of design
2) pillowcase designs represent changes in fabric fashion from the plain white of my childhood to a full range of pastel and bright single colours; from busy floral and hectic geometric to spots and stripes; from fine art and ethnic patterns to cartoons and ‘funny sayings’; from romantic to gothic; from soothing to headache inducing.
3) it takes skill to make double drawstring scrubs bag that open and close. I have great respect for the remedial work team who have unpicked, re-stitched and re-threaded.
4) good management means good planning. Rosie always has my time planned. It is never wasted.
5) there is satisfaction in a job well done.
Sewing for the Scrubbery has kept me sane during the Covid pandemic lockdowns. Among other restrictions I was unable to continue to volunteer at the Cancer Research Shop in Putney High Street. To compensate, during a 2 week self-isolation period & thanks to many generous sponsors, I was able to raise over £3000 for them doing a sponsored walk round our house and small garden. My goal was a total over the 14 days of 58,000 steps needed to virtually walk up Mount Everest which I achieved!!! My surname is not Moore!!!
I am a “357” and have lived most of my life under the stairs. But last October saw me lifted out, dusted down and placed on a non-slip doormat on a formica table in my owner's spare room. My bobbin holder had long gone, as had the light bulb under my tummy. Well, if you had lived in your original plastic case for most of your 54 years, you might have had one or two problems too! Like lockdown hair...
But I took on a new lease of life; backwards and forwards and zigzagging the miles; over rainbows, gingham, and multitudes of colours and textures; producing tops and bottoms, masks and bags. One Friday saw me taken to the Scrubbery where I met Rosie who oiled me, and Lucy who gave my owner beautifully cut and bound scrubs to take back to my place on the doormat on the formica table. As well as oil, I have a wooden chopstick to hold the bobbin and a new light bulb which has been fitted with the help of a well fashioned piece of india rubber to keep it in place.
Now, as for my owner... well, most winters she goes into a decline! She hates the short dark days, but like me, has taken on a new lease of life. From 2.15 on Fridays, Mondays and Tuesdays she puts on the radio and drives me over trousers, down side-seams and zigzags over buttonholes till 5 pm. (I would not dare to comment on the straightness of her seams other than to say a bit of lockdown eyesight might have come into play.) But, she too has rediscovered her mojo, and hopes that between us we are helping our wonderful NHS workers during this Pandemic through the Scrubbery, who make scrubs with love.
PS My name is Singer!
Adapted to new technology to stay in touch with my friends ( the corollary to that is that my lockdown appearance is somewhat scary- no hair cut- and that in my eyes, the camera definitely lies!!!)
Never been so “on top” of my gardening – cleaned the shed out, totally reorganised the greenhouse, weeded all the herbaceous borders, and flowerbeds for me and my neighbours, and its only early March.
How much I miss charity shops being open – both for retail therapy but also for recycling things.
That I can’t do DIY projects with the other half – it doesn’t work with 2 foremen and no workers.
Monthly Milestones:
Since the last newsletter our focus at the Hub has been to cut, sew, and to do the beautiful tapestry “Thank You” badges that Rosie created, plus actually get content for our well being bags. We have had some great successes on the donations front, and no small thank you is due to the diligence and hard work of people like Lettie, Ann H, Lucy H, Suzanne B, Helen H, Cathy S, Rosie and Marilyn who have been tracking down donors and getting the goods in. As a result we have had contributions from:-
Molton Brown
Waitrose
Thompson Morgan, seeds
St Margaret’s Church congregation, handmade cards, generous donations
Michael O’Mara publishing, mindfulness books
Huel
Friendly Soap Company
Putney WI for their fabulous contribution with both volunteers and goodies
Apologies if we have missed off anyone.
That doesn’t even mention all the generous folks who have donated via the Amazon shop – it’s so exciting when all the deliveries arrive at the hub, so thank you to all the unsung benefactors, you make it all possible and bring a new energy and buzz to the Hub.
We had a lovely message from one doctor who was a recipient of a bag :
“the staff really, really, really, love the wellbeing bags. They are bouncing with happiness” and let’s face it, that hasn’t happened for many of them for an awfully long time! So well done you for your contribution to the process whatever that might have been!
Each bag is individually crafted but includes a thank you note from the Scrubbery and an anonymous hand written thank you from people in the community as well as something to eat and drink, something to pamper, something to support wellbeing and hand sewn items like a face mask.
We continue to supply scrubs and accessories to hospitals, and more recently to a whole host of vaccine centres, outside of this particular exercise. We are working on a large request for navy scrubs, as well as creating food bank bags.
We have sent items to Northwick Park, St. Thomas' Hospital, North Middlesex, West Middlesex, Charing Cross, St. George's University Hospital, Hillingdon Hospital, Ealing Hospital and University College Hospital. This month scrubs have also gone as far afield as Abroath in Scotland!
We were delighted to see on national news that Sadiq Khan received his jab from a healthcare worker dressed in one of our rainbow scrubs surrounded by others similarly attired.
Rosie has been nominated for a Community Heroes Award 2020 for Richmond Upon Thames.
Visitors to the Scrubbery included Fleur Anderson, our MP, and many GPs collecting scrubs.
We still need your help with contents for the wellbeing bags. To make donating even simpler, we have set up an Amazon wishlist – where we itemised examples of the kinds of products we are looking for.
Our Rainbow Scrubs are all over the borough, and appear in Wandsworth Council's newsletter
Once again thank you for your incredible support, generosity, time and enthusiasm, as the first year under new rules passes, our work continues, and your contribution makes it all possible.
Stay safe and well and enjoy the longer days and better weather.