MORE than 800 people visited Redditch School Uniform Bank on Saturday with organisers saying they passed on more than 7,000 garments.
The bank, run and organised by Redditch Labour party and now in its eighth year, was born out of the spiralling cost of school uniforms and the pressure this put on hard-up Redditch families.
This has been made worse this year by the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the local jobs market with many parents finding themselves out of work.
The concept is simple – children spring up fast and can quickly outgrow otherwise perfectly good school uniforms.
At the start of summer appeals are sent out for donations and then these are put to good use to help families get the next cohort of youngsters kitted out for the start of the school year.
This year’s bank was held in the now vacant Tony’s Handyman premises on Market Place with a gazebo opposite where people could register.
Organiser Councillor Joe Baker (Lab, Greenlands), hailed the event’s success.
He said: “It was nice to be able to help and to see families filling their bags and getting the benefit from the service.
“Redditch should be proud of itself and I’m proud of the volunteers who came down and proud of all the people who contributed to this day and the build-up to it.”
On the day itself, Saturday, August 15, there was a carnival atmosphere with lively Birmingham/Brazilian band Forro Tempo playing folk dance tunes from South America to liven up the crowds.
“When we got here at 10.30am there were queues right back to the 3 Cooks Cafe,” said Labour group leader Coun Bill Hartnett (Church Hill).
“We’d like to thank Tony of Tony Handyman’s for use of the premises and everyone who donated garments. We had an excellent response, everyone was very generous and the feedback we have received has been brilliant.”
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