Christmas almost cancelled for 200 children in Eastbourne until charity found space to work
The Baby Bank in Eastbourne has prepared 200 gifts for children ‘with very little’ but volunteers were anxious it may not go ahead.
Nicky Walker has been running the charity Baby Bank for four years now from her home in Hellingly but she was concerned about the logistics of transporting 150 – 200 gift bundles.
She said: “We often have flooding on my road so I was concerned about where we would put all of the bundles together. Because if I had a problem where people couldn’t get to us to pick them up because of road flooding, then I’ve basically cancelled Christmas 150 – 200 children.”
Nicky described that last year the charity was able to use premises provided from Hailsham Town Council but because it was on the first floor it made it harder for volunteers to carry up and down close to 1500 toys and books.
After approaching many people Nicky eventually made contact with Councillor Stephen Holt, who organised for the charity to use the locker room space in the tennis court.
Nicky added: “We normally give out 150 – 200 bundles so we deal directly with families so each bundle is made specifically for the child so we also work closely with social workers. For example they will say there is an eight-year-old, who likes football and Lego so we look amongst the items we have.
"Most of the stuff is brand new except some clothing, which is second hand.”