Deck the Wards takes Oxford Street

​Armed with Jaz and Katie’s amazingly organised shopping plan, and having rounded up a merry band of volunteers to help carry goodies, we prepared ourselves for the mayhem of Oxford Street 2 weeks before Christmas! This was a momentous occasion; our first shopping trip for the charity.

First on the list were 24 pairs of socks. In theory a simple task, but faced with so many choices and wanting to get it right so that the socks fitted the brief of being a ‘home comfort’ and ‘luxury’, it took longer than anticipated.  With much toing and froing, we eventually settled on some that we were all happy with. Buoyed by our success in the sock department, off we went to secure the next items on the list.

Then the fun really began when we got to Lush.  Even I, who is very camera-phobic, couldn’t get enough of doing boomerangs with the products. They were luscious (ha!) We were really chuffed to be able to get products here and within the budget which was even more satisfying!

Whilst we weren’t so successful in securing face to face donations due to stores’ corporate policies, it was interesting to see the reactions of the shops’ staff, who clearly had never considered the fact that inpatients of psychiatric wards didn’t receive festive goodies the same way inpatients at non-psychiatric wards do. It was heartening to see that they shared our enthusiasm for the premise behind Deck the Wards.
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This trip, which was the first of many this week, really helped us get into the Christmas spirit and to the heart of what we are about as a charity. I hope the Children and Young people enjoy receiving the items as much as we’ve enjoyed shopping.

Hermione Ollard

Deck the Wards Trustee