Chris and Claire Armstrong arranged for HBTSR to have a stall at the Fair Trade market and Claire made all the arrangements for what proved to be a very successful day.  We were given some items specifically for sale and we also took the opportunity to sell some of the clothing that we had been given as we are still not able to pass things on directly to people seeking asylum. We also were able to sell tea ,coffee and delicious cakes and biscuits made by some of our generous supporters. We encouraged people to rummage in boxes and bags and everything was left to people to give a donation rather than selling for a fixed price.

Claire and her friend Clare arrived early to set up and were joined by Ailsa and Lawrence with more donations and the banners. Lis, Ellen and Roger arrived to help run the show and were joined by Mark and Janet. Delicious home made cakes arrived with Claire, Val and  Tim [ Amazing sticky Gingerbread!] Barbara and Reg and scrumptious biscuits with Mark and Janet.

Harriet and Hilary brought some tasty redcurrants [ selling for £5  a small punnet at Waitrose apparently ]. Rhiannon joined in a little later and we seemed to be busy throughout the day. Sue arrived with some beautiful handmade pottery, Alene gave us some jewellery and other things as did Barbara and Reg donated some lovely paintings, Kath had given many gardening books [ some of which sold before the stall opened] Steph drove to Claire with her donations and many others [Including Sue, Lynne & Philip, Jody&Layne and Alene] also helped ensure we had plenty to sell.

 Highlights– Mark sold some of his railway books after Janet approached random men in the market asking if they were interested in trains! When I told Sylvia about this, she went over to Mark and bought the rest of the books for a friend who loves trains!

We sold some of Eugene’s books and some cards that Clare had brought.

A kind stall holder gave away some beautiful handmade shopping bags after he had been kept supplied with tea! We met some super people and had some good conversations. Jody and Layne came to give us some clothing to sell but then took some to a local secondhand shop and returned with the money they’d been given! Some people who were camping locally were delighted to find  warm dry clothing available…

 Thanks to the Fair Trade group and Claire and Chris for giving us the space and allowing us to participate. And to Clare and Claire for all the planning and collecting and to everyone who cooked delicious cakes, biscuits or donated items to sell. And to Lis, Ellen, Roger , Mark,Janet ,Claire Clare and Rhiannon for being in charge of the stall .And to Lawrence and Anthony for helping to pack up…… Thanks to everyone who came and bought and cheered us along. Thanks to Derek The Deli for kindly giving us freezer space to keep some cakes for our welcome day and to the Red Cross for taking some of the left over clothing. We have plenty for another stall soon though !

As Claire said’ It went really well yesterday- very pleased and relieved! We met lots of nice people and enjoyed a relaxed atmosphere and very generous customers.

We made £491.45!!!!