As part of a course I went on in April, I helped volunteer to run a Swish event in Sheffield. I knew then that this was something I wanted to replicate on my return home to Cornwall. The event was amazing! Run by Common Thread, their Swish was run monthly attracting as many as 100 people each time. The spirit of joy and support that brought the community together around a topic that I am particularly passionate about… sharing. I loved it and I knew you would too.
On my return home I know I had to find a way to make it work in a way that would be supported by the local community and also worthwhile for us. It took until September but, finally, our first Swish, held in Par on the 29th September, and what a success it was. 1 pm had arrived and it was time to open the doors, my first surprise a que of almost 50 already waiting to come in, with clothes to swap by the binbag, any previous concerns around if the support for the event was there was instantly shattered and in all 107 people turned up, not bad for our first swish, even if I do say so myself. The rails were full, the atmosphere was buzzing and the people were great, helping out where they could. We could not have done it without the helping hand of volunteers and attendees, so thank you. The challenge was getting everything out on the rails fast enough, with so much more clothing than we had ever contemplated the pile was certainly getting out of control at times but, eventually, we caught up with the staggering 452kg of clothes that came through the doors. Considering everything we learnt from our first Swishing Saturday, we are now ready to use everything we have learnt to make the next events even better. With that in mind it is with absolute delight that we can announce the next Swishing Dates which are Saturday 3rd November in Bodmin and Saturday 1st December in Par. Our next Swish will be in Bodmin on the 3rd November. Contact us for more details and how you can take part.
2 Comments
Jane Johnson
11/10/2018 14:02:20
Have never been to a swish event before... do you just turn up with good quality clothes that you want to get rid of, and do you also have shoes or not? Then do you pay for clothes that you want or is it all free... didn’t know if you did it for a charity or something!
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john lakey
11/10/2018 14:39:18
Hi Jane,
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