October Newsletter to Volunteers from our Chair

Autumn is upon us! The leaves on the trees are changing colour, and the shelves of the Friends Shop are stocked to the brim with Hallowe’en treaties (I must admit I don’t like this celebration but I remind myself that we're here for the Denmark Hill community, and not for me!). I may have mentioned previously that I used to work in a stationery shop. Seasonal discombobulation seems to be par for the course – I remember we used to start looking at our Hallowe’en and Christmas stock in February! Our bespoke charity Christmas cards have just arrived, and feedback on our range has so far been fantastic.

As ever, a huge thank you to each of you all for your continued hard work and commitment to the Friends of King’s. Thanks to everyone's efforts, the Friends Shop’s success has continued through the third quarter of the year, with total revenue up 15% on the same almost ten-month period in 2024. Customer feedback is paramount, with new requests including saline solution for contact lenses, make-up, Bic biros and more.

In terms of our grant-giving back to the Trust, it has been a busy few months both in terms of donations in and donations out. We have now purchased and received the second RITA machine I mentioned in the last newsletter for the Dementia & Delirium Team, who are incredibly grateful and excited. We have received a very generous legacy of £20,000 comprising £10,000 designated for the Physiotherapy Team and £10,000 for general purposes. We were also awarded £5,000 by the Allied Irish Bank’s community fund, having been nominated by an employee there as a potential candidate for a grant. We are hoping some interesting grant applications will be coming in over the next few months so we will keep you abreast of where the funds are being spent.

A very big thank you once again from me and all the trustees (as well as Ana, Jane, and Hannah) for all you do to help us achieve this day in day out. As I said last time, we do not under-estimate the amount of work it takes to keep a Shop such as ours full and open, and every minute you spend helping us helps the wider Friends team do more for the King’s community that we are here

to serve.