Just popping to the village...

That is what I tell myself regularly. I need stamps OR something for tonight's dinner OR a card, knowing damn well the lure of the two local charity shops will pull me in while there and today as no exception.

Today I came home with two new pairs of shoes and a velvet jacket that I will write about another time. The shoes are not particularly sexy or edgy, no skyscraper heels, just comfy useful everyday shoes. Both were £2.50 and found in St Davids Hospice shop in Caldicot village. The green pair originated from my own shop Wallis but the second pair in black are from none other than Hobbs whose court shoes and pumps can easily be seen at prices around £130-£150. They look brand new with no visible marks whatsoever so they are a particularly good find. Neither pair are very high (for me, although I say that and everyone else still thinks they are too high), so they will serve as good work shoes. 

The odd thing was that I strolled into the village in a pair of turquoise shoes that were pretty much the same style. They too are a charity shop find from a few years back as I bought them to match a dress for my graduation (or at least the festivities afterwards).

So now I have three pairs of similar guise. Thankfully, now I have my dressing room, they can be displayed and not hidden. We have built in space for a few new purchases at least. 

I haven't written about my dressing room as it is not quite finished but rest assured when it is, there will be a post covering the official opening ceremony. 

A helping hand.....

Another item crossed off the bucket list. 

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to go and help my friend set up a sale in the St Peter's Hospice shop where she works in Bristol.  She is Deputy Manager of their Bishopston store on Gloucester Road and it was her job to set up a big summer sale last week so she roped in a few extra pairs of hands to help. Luckily, I wasn't working which is rare for a Saturday so I jumped at the chance of lending a hand for a couple of hours (despite it being John's birthday that day).  What can I say, I am a bad wife but a good friend.

Those of you that are regulars to my blog will know that I write about St Peters a lot, trying to promote them and their stores whenever I can. They do an amazing job in their Hospice in Brentry in Bristol for people that are terminally ill and they rely heavily on their chain of 42 shops in and around Bristol to raise much needed funds.

They are not like other charity shops, they really have paid attention to what is going on in the retail sector and mirror many boutique style shops with lovely shop fittings and interior design. They are always bright and welcoming and the clothes are all colour-blocked so it is a very inviting place to shop.  Their shops have "shunned" the old cliché of charity shops being smelly, dark, jumble sale style places, harnessing the love for all things vintage and second-hand, promoting a new way of shopping.....and thinking.

For anyone that knows the Gloucester Road area of Bristol, you will know it is a vibrant community full of local independent shops alongside a large array of charity shops.  It has a slightly bohemian feel to it which I love, a far cry from the giant retail behemoths in the city centre. It's an area where charity shops do very well but there is also a lot of competition.  This particular St Peters Shop is right next door to the Clic Sargent Vintage Flagship store (that I wrote about recently) but they also have another St Peters Store further up the road which is much larger and sells furniture.  Nic likened them to "Harrods" whereas her store is more "M&S" in scale.  It did make me laugh, I would prefer M&S any day.

This is Nicola and her sales assistant Rhiannon that were working that day.  In order to get the sale in full swing, Nic bought balloons, sweets, we put up bunting, just as you would in any other store hoping to make the most of a promotion.  It was interesting spending time there as I learnt that they too have sales targets, as per most shops and the pressure is no less apparent just because they are a charity.  In some ways, the pressure is more because they know how desperately important every single penny is.  The target for that day was £1000 which put things in perspective when we sometimes don't even take that in one of our Wallis stores! It's even more of a challenge when the items that you sell are traditionally at the lower end of the price bracket meaning you need to sell more of them to hit your plan. The charity needs an average of £16,000 per day to keep the hospice running and that comes largely from their stores, fund raising events such as the Midnight Walk and from donations left to them by individuals in their wills.

It is such an amazing and worthwhile cause, I admire anyone that works or volunteers for charity. A few years ago, after taking voluntary redundancy, I was lucky enough to take a 3 month break from paid work and I did lots of volunteering.  Some for animal charities which are a real passion of mine but also charities that support the elderly who I think get so easily overlooked. It was really rewarding and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to do it.

I work pretty much every Saturday so its not an option for me to volunteer on a fixed basis so it was nice to be able to help for a couple of hours if nothing else. While I was there, a stag party came in looking for waist-coats (which we didn't have unfortunately, despite rummaging through many a bag in the store room) and it made me realise that a lot of trade probably comes in that guise.  My stepdaughter was recently looking for a fancy dress item and her first port of call was a local charity shop so they really do serve the communities in many ways for many different reasons.

Surprisingly for me, I only managed to buy one item, which I felt guilty about as I was hoping to find loads and bump up the sales for that day. I tried several things on (including a few pairs of shoes) but it was not meant to be. My only purchase being this little seahorse bracelet that I gave to my mum which was £2.50 and well worth the smile on her face.

So please give a thought to these shops that do such amazing work for the charities they front and to the dedication of those that work there.  From all of the second-hand and vintage junkies out there, 

We salute you!

Scrapbook...

Life seems to be somewhat of a blur at the moment.

June, July and August are pretty hectic months in the Merchant-Locke household.  A melange of birthdays, family and summer events, school holidays....the list goes on. Time has not stood still for a while, not for us anyway. Added to that, the totally unexpected but very welcome summer that we are having, we seem to be dedicating more of our time to "fun" tasks as opposed to all those sat on our "necessary" list. A guaranteed summer is not one we are used to in this country so this year we have all been taken by surprise.  The ice-cream van man is very happy, blow-up garden pools are out of stock and pic-nics are springing up everywhere. It really is lovely weather and long may it continue.

I thought I would share with you some of the things that we have been up to over the summer, not just to off-set the guilt of not writing much but also because we have been lucky enough to make some lovely memories. I love scrap-booking and although I don't have the time that I would wish to dedicate to it, I am always aware of precious memories, trinkets, moments that I could squirrel away, even if just in my virtual scrapbook.

The St Peters Hospice Midnight Walk.  This is myself Tracy Bisp and Selina Bracey in all our finery about to take part in the annual sponsored walk which raises valuable funds for the hospice. Our dear friend, Wendy passed away recently and was cared for by the hospice in her last weeks.  It is such an amazing cause but also a brilliant night of fun (and aching legs).  I was lucky enough to have Selina's company all the way and we spent the whole night talking, laughing and sharing.  A few tears were even shed but it is a memory that I will always cherish.  Brilliant night with brilliant people for a brilliant lady.  

Sleep tight Wendy.

This is me and my amazing mum at the Westonbirt Arboretum. We spent a gorgeous summer's evening with a pic-nic watching Boyzone with my brother and sister-in-law.  At the time, mum had not long had a major operation on her foot and unfortunately was in a wheelchair. Not that that stopped her!  

The boys looking very dapper.

This is Oswald/Thor (the name hasn't yet been confirmed). At the moment he is a new house resident (much to my dog's disgust) while my step-daughter is away on holiday.  

 

Currently deflated and hanging on the washing line, this is our pool. We succumbed to summer madness and we too bought a blow up pool.  £60 well spent.  We have only been in it a few times as the cleaning process is hard work but we are now more prepared and have spent a fortune on all the correct cleaning products.  Hopefully this will avoid any more fluorescent algae from also joining us.  One small problem, we can't seem to disassociate being in the pool from drinking.  Drinking bubbly. It has become a costly and time consuming hobby.   

This is how the Merchant-Lockes do a small summer lunch.

This little fella is the newest baby in the family. My stepson and girlfriend are the proud owners of this beautiful little Pug (his name escapes me but it is something uber-cool from Lord of the Rings). He is adorable and was centre of attention at Tom's 21st BBQ last weekend.  

I love this photo.

John and I at Tom's birthday BBQ.  That red dress is quickly becoming one of my favourite ever charity shop purchases. And John is looking very handsome in his new birthday t-shirt from Tom.  Bought at one of the Formula One races that he attended recently with work. What a job!

This is John with little Miss Annabel Quarterman. Christening number 2 is this Sunday and yes, the fascinator will be out, no doubt annoying more people behind me.

He is so wonderful with kids, I fall a little bit more in love with him every time I see him with a baby (if that's possible).

The lovely Miss Harriet Davolls - proud new mum.

This is me, attempting to channel my inner Kate Middleton with a "fascinating" (as one of the guests put it).  We recently attended the christening of a friends little boy (seen below) and I have been dying for an excuse to buy one. I probably annoyed everyone in the church that sat behind me but hey. You must dress accordingly for a date with the Lord!

De-robed after the ceremony being happily passed from one guest to the next.  A very cute little Hugo.

So there you have it. A snapshot in the life of me and la famille. Some lovely memories "banked" in my scrapbook of life. Some events that we don't have photo's of unfortunately include a lovely evening with our friends Steve and Ellen who live not far from us. We were invited to a dinner party to meet some visiting French friends of theirs and we had a truly lovely evening (culminating a water pistol fight on the streets at midnight). Another event was last night, the leaving do of my Boss where I got to meet all the new girls that will soon be my new Wallis family as I take on the challenge of a new role in a couple of weeks.

 It's been a lovely couple of months and we still have more events to look forward to.  I hope you are having a very happy summer, whatever you are doing.