‘Spark Joy’ – a decluttering update
Every nook and cranny in the church and undercroft is being explored! All sort of things are emerging, some of which have not seen the light of day for years – like the ‘Order two’ orders of service; remember that form of liturgy? Sometimes as we discard one item, like the duplicator, we find another item we no longer need, like the metal cupboard that it used to sit on (see the photo below). And workman have a habit of just leaving things – like ladders or bits of ladders, or boxes of unused materials. Then there is a huge amount of paper that is redundant – leaflets, children’s resources, pamphlets, orders of service etc that haven’t been used for ages. There are also lots of little piles in different places of bits of wood or other items, probably left over from one project or another, that haven’t been thrown away. These are just a few of the things that we have been decluttering.
As The Friends of the Drama are also decluttering we have agreed to share a skip on 8th and 9th April. A big thank you to Jeremy and Julia for agreeing to have it parked on their driveway.
But before the skip comes we want to try and recycle as much as possible. Non confidential paper is being put in bags and put on the shelf over the back pews. On Sundays members of the congregation have been taking bags to put in their green recycling. The photo below shows the first collection of these bags.
Surplus children’s books and toys will also be put in bags. Rather than take them all to one charity shop, members of the congregation will be asked to take a bag, but this time to take the bag to their local charity shop.
We are also inviting people to help themselves to surplus postcards. As people use cameras on their phones, and postage becomes ever more costly, less and less people buy postcards. We have a lot. We will keep a good selection but for the next few weeks we are inviting people to help themselves, and make a donation
The entrance porch has become ‘Freecycle HQ’ and filled with things we no longer want. Things that were once useful, or played a part in our activities, but which we no longer need (like the metal cupboard in the photo below which has been taking up valuable space in the choir vestry). Marie Kondo who wrote the book “Spark Joy”, the Japanese art of decluttering, says when we discard something we can say thank you for the way in which the item has served us in the past, or in the case of some of the items we are discarding, the good intention with which it was originally purchased, and then pass it on or discard it. The congregation and the public are being invited to help with this process. They can help themselves to anything in the entrance porch, and we hope that some will also make a donation.
On 8th and 9th April we will need people to help to move items to the skip. If you can help please contact me at [email protected]