New Rye Swap Shop gets off to a flying start

The new initiative was launched at St Mary’s Centre, Lion Street, on Saturday and was organised by Mike Pepler.

More than 300 people came along and between 300 - 400 items were taken away.

Mike Pepler said: “I would like to thank everyone for making this a great success.

“The items taken away weighed at least 165kg. On top of this, at least 75kg went to charity shops.

So that’s 250kg, or a quarter of a tonne, that went to a good home!

“ Something like 60kg went to the tip. About 35kg was recycled and 25kg was general waste. There was also quite a few cardboard boxes left, which all went into recycling at the tip.

“We took £52.80 in donations at the door (and two US cents!), and £21.15 for refreshments.

“Although this swap shop has been paid for by Neighbourhood Enablers, by saving up the donations we will be able to have funds set aside for future events.

“I’m sure people have ideas about how we could make it even better next time, and there are also plans afoot to run it in Tilling Green as well.”