Summer 2026 news

(as originally prepared in early August)

I visited the Scrubbery today and was overwhelmed by the monumental task facing Rosie and the Scrubbery volunteers. The Oasis Academy has moved out but left considerable chaos for us to sort out.

When I arrived on Monday, Rosie was clearing the classroom floors. She had been given a day’s notice to prepare for the company who had come to wash the carpets and to clean the linoleum. It has taken many hours to sort the rubbish and to repurpose anything left behind that can go to a new home.

9,500 books have been cleared from the library, packed up and are being sent to the Roehampton Church Forest School and Oasis South Bank school. In addition, the Roehampton school is also receiving library shelving, the returns trolley, art supplies, early years playground furniture and sheds, child-sized wooden chairs, all the remaining PE equipment, sandtrays, outdoor staging, loads of stationery, dictionaries, play tyres from the roof and key stage 1 playground, children’s tables and a sofa. Rosie personally transferred the majority of these items downstairs to the main door. The school sent a van which Rosie helped to load. We hope to send remaining items to the Work and Play Scrap Store, Wandsworth.

Donate to Educate

As one wave goes out, the next wave is coming in. Four Luton trucks full of new school uniforms have arrived. Donate to Educate is the brainchild of Paul Kent. Paul has worked for years with school Parent Teacher Associations, supporting schools with resources and advice on how to raise money for educational needs. These voluntary associations collectively raise around £150 million pounds a year to plug the funding gap. As central government and councils reduce funding, Donate to Educate has identified a need to provide uniforms for children on free school meals. Paul has worked for three years to find a solution. The uniforms, donated by businesses and supermarkets, represent excess stock and returns. He started collecting uniforms from distribution centres before Christmas last year and stored the clothes in a warehouse. He spoke to councils who expressed interest, including Wandsworth, Merton and Southwark, about finding a central sorting point and the logistics of distribution.

Wandsworth told him about Rosie and The Scrubbery. The result was that four Luton trucks arrived containing 36 builders’ bags, 70 + crates and 16 supermarket cages of uniforms, all jumbled up, containing approximately 20,000 items to sort.

Rosie and a wonderful team of volunteers from The Scrubbery and beyond have been working heroically to unpack and sort the uniforms into ages, colours, types (skirts, trousers, jumpers, shirts and T shirts and more). Classrooms have been cleared of furniture and racking and shelving have been hastily installed by Donate to Educate and The Scrubbery.

This is a pilot scheme with the uniforms being given free to pupil premium families who need the support. It also means that the uniforms will not be incinerated or sent to landfill. The current plan is that the uniforms will be requested by the councils, sorted and packed by volunteers, collected and delivered by the Dons Local Action Group who are based at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, home of AFC Wimbledon. The councils are keen to receive the orders before the end of the month. It is a huge undertaking with a very short lead time. We will let you know how we get on.

Well-Being Bags

At the same time eighty well-being bags are being sewn and assembled for the Paediatric induction day for doctors which will be hosted by King’s College London. The organising team are always very grateful for these and say how much appreciated they are and uplifting for the junior doctors. You can see more about well-being bagshere, where there is also a link to request them.

Deliveries

The next delivery to Ukraine will be in September, and will include camo nets, medical equipment, a wheelchair, walking sticks, crutches and clothing for the stabilisation points. These are centres that are set up not far from the front lines and are where the wounded are brought out from immediate danger to be triaged before being sent onwards. Often they have had their clothes cut off to enable immediate medical intervention so more clothing is required for when they are evacuated to medical facilities. Meanwhile here are some pictures of recent deliveries that have arrived at their destinations in Ukraine.

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