IT'S THURSDAY - SO IT MUST BE COMMUNITY FRIDGE DAY

Hello Lovely Blippers,

This is Catrina the Cat here - and this is my first “go” at writing up about what we did today - and by we, I mean Oreo and me.  We heard Mrs. HCB speaking about the Community Fridge to Mr. HCB last night saying that she needed to get her bag ready for Knit & Natter today, so asked very politely whether we could go with her.  She was happy for that, so we jumped into her knitting bag and off we went just before 10 o’clock this morning.

Goodness me, you should have seen the flurry of activity that goes on before the doors open at 11 o’clock.  Angie, one of the newest volunteers, was there before us and already had a pot of coffee on the go, which was great for Mrs. HCB.  Soon after, Jackie, another volunteer arrived and we thought it would be good fun to have a ride on her trolley seat, and you can see us all at the top left of the collage - Jackie is always smiling and people love chatting to her.

Just to the left of that, you can see Oreo and me actually sitting IN the fridge - we had chilly bottoms, I can tell you!  Meg, another volunteer, is smiling as she disposes of the various crates.  She always makes the people in the queue laugh and she is a good person to have around - she works hard and we often wonder if she lives at the Church, because she always seems to be there, either delivering stuff from the supermarkets, or collecting the Bags of Hope to deliver to various people in the town.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much unsliced bread today, but there were plenty of loves of sliced bead of all sorts, so we jumped on there so that Mrs. HCB could take a photograph of us.  We also jumped into the clementines and limes, although some of them were a bit sticky.  The bananas were a bit yucky, but we are pleased to say that most of them were taken;  one lady told us she uses them to make smoothies, which sounds very good and nutritious.  

We were hoping that when Mrs. HCB sliced up the chocolate traybake, we would be able to have a piece each, but she told us it was for customers only when they bought their coffee and cake for 50p!  What a bargain - the cheapest in town. 

Of course, the Tunnocks Milk Chocolate Teacakes didn’t last long and I guess that when people are “watching their pennies” they don’t buy this sort of thing, so to find it at the Community Fridge is a real bonus.  In fact, there were also some Thorntons Caramel squares, and someone, who shall be nameless, because he is bigger than us, had at least four - but his excuse was that they were only very small!

I wonder if you can spot the intruder in the box of limes - and I don’t mean Oreo!   I think he was wondering what to do with all those limes and at the end, there were still a lot left.  I guess limes aren’t that popular, which is why they get so many at the Community Fridge.

Debs is carrying in some of the lovely flowers that she had collected this morning - and most of those were taken - again, people who are short of food don’t often buy flowers, so we are guessing that lots of people will be delighted today when someone gives them flowers.

I saw some Whiskas and I think they are treats of some kind, so must ask Mrs. HCB if she will get some for me next week.

One thing that surprised Mrs. HCB when she set up the Prayer Table was that there was no “February 29” in the particular version of “The Bible in One Year” which she put out - which seemed rather strange, given that it was printed in 2004, which was a Leap Year.  Despite that, we enjoyed reading that and some of the other booklets and literature on the table.

All in all, we had a great morning - we can confirm that Mrs. HCB and several other volunteers, spent quite a lot of the morning sorting out KFC chicken pieces - in fact, Mrs. HCB said that when she got home she thought Mr. HCB would think she had a new perfume called “KFC” - Ha ha!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day - we are very tired after our morning at the Community Fridge - where would this country be if we never had any volunteers?  They are the unsung heroes who give generously of their time and experience in so many different ways.  

THANK YOU TO EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU WHO VOLUNTEERS IN ANY WAY!  YOU ARE AMAZING!

Love to you all,

Catrina and Oreo from the Gorse Hill Baptist Church Community Fridge xx

P.S.  Of course, the volunteers you can see here weren't the only ones working at the Community Fridge today, there were several others, but Mrs. HCB couldn't take photographs of all of them - however, she says they all worked very hard this morning!