Freegle Stories

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• Big Gucca Plant

  My sister Offered a big Gucca Plant which I gave her. A lady collected it, and later on in the day she returned with a bunch of flowers to say thank you.

  The moral of the story is I could have had those flowers!

  Paul Turner, Brewood, Codsall and Stretton South Staffordshire Freegle

• I am glad I haven’t

  I couldn’t unsubscribe originally when I got rid of my first item. But now I am glad I haven’t.

  Been able to help others with their needs, cleared a load of stuff I didn’t want, and, every one I have met seems very pleasant.

  Thank you for being there to help us all, I will be staying very involved, mostly giving for now.

  Janet Tiverton

• Nowhere to put it

  Last year I spent days (DAYS!!!) dismantling an old greenhouse from a friend’s garden. Blood (literally), sweat, tears AND sunburn were involved. I carefully marked all the bits with my trusty Sharpie and transported it in batches (rather embarrassingly poking out the top of the car) from one county to another.

  Once I got all the parts home I realised I actually have nowhere to put it… even if I did it would probably just end up as a repository for cruddy old plantpots, rotten bamboo canes, a sad geranium and the obligatory dusty bottle of Babybio. (And actually I don’t have enough time to deal with the triffid-like weeds I’m cultivating as it is, never mind propagating and nurturing more plants that will need MORE attention. Sigh.)

  So, it’s cluttering up my already chav-tastic garden and it has to go. The facts: I have a pile of aluminium parts that will build what I think is a 6’x8’ frame with a sliding door on a gable end. This is an OLD greenhouse – it was a job and a half (ie. lots of expletives were involved) to get it apart so there may be the odd bit that is still attached to another or very slightly warped/bent, etc. My methodical markings have long washed off (so much for permanent marker!) and there are no instructions. I have no idea what make it is, or indeed anything about greenhouses/aluminium-framed garden buildings in general (so please don’t ask difficult questions!).

  It will need new seals and fixings (screw/bolt type thingummybobs) – I have some of the old ones so not a complete mystery in terms of seeking replacements. I have a random pile of glass and perspex – though not enough for the whole structure. Probably. There is also what I believe is an automatic opener thingy (technical term) for a roof ventilation window.

  Would best suit someone who either has a LOT of time and patience or has prior experience in the field of greenhouse erections (oo-er!). PS. I’m sure I took photographs at the time on my phone but they will have long been archived. I can try and dig them out for the ‘lucky’ recipient… if you ask nicely. ;) (And no, I won’t deliver; I don’t care if your auntie’s next-door neighbour’s, coal-man’s canary has millet-deprived triplets; and responses along the lines of: “I’ll take it.” will not be looked on favourably. So there.)

  Stirling City Freegle

• 

  Tinkerbell style nappy stacker

  About 7 years ago I bought a bridesmaid dress for my little girl to wear to a party. It was only a few pounds, under £10 new. The first time she wore it, she ripped some of the net overlay. I gave it a new lease of life by altering the overlay so that no-one would notice. She then grew out of this beautiful dress, but I couldn’t bear to part with it. I still had the dress in the cupboard thinking it would come in useful one day. Well it has…

  One of my daughters gave birth to a little girl yesterday and we need something to keep nappies in. Now my daughter is Tinkerbell mad, so I got an old pair of fairy wings from the dressing up box and stitched them onto the back of the dress. Split up the middle of the front of the dress and stitched it to neaten the edges. Added a base. The overlay was cut into pointy bits as on Tinkerbell’s dress and a coat hanger to hold it up.

  My younger daughters’ dress is now a Tinkerbell style nappy stacker. Looks gorgeous hung on the wall and is really useful.

  Carole Hayle & St Ives Freegle

• Mum is thrilled to bits

  My mum had a massive stroke a year ago, which left her totally paralysed on her right side and because of that and other medical complaints has now had to go into a care home. Her 4 bedroomed house has to be sold to pay her care fees and after being married for around 30 years each, my sisters and I have no need for most of her bits and pieces and furniture.

  My mum was so upset that all her things that had given her so much pleasure and the furniture she had struggled so hard to buy over many years, would all be wasted and taken to the tip or put in a skip. I promised her that nothing that could be used would be wasted.

  We brought all her belongings home a carload at a time and have spent the last few months rehoming them via Freegle. I’ve answered wanted posts and
  placed many many offers. Slowly but surely it has almost all gone. The larger furniture was rehomed via another recycling website in the area where she lives, as to date there is no Freegle in her area. We’ve very nearly cleared it all now and my Mum is thrilled to bits that all the things that gave her so much pleasure over the years, are now giving others pleasure and the furniture she struggled to buy, is being used by others who really needed it.

  For us it has meant that not only is my mum happy, but we haven’t had to pay for skips or removal lorries and the councils landfill site is no fuller for her misfortune. My husband, myself and my Mum are all very grateful that Freegle and similar recycling websites exist.

  Thankyou Freegle.

  Sheila, Stevenage Freegle

• Meeting so many truly wonderful people

  Last year a very good friend of mine was dying of cancer. By special dispensation of the archbishop he was married to the mother of his 8 year old son in St. James Hospital. She was disabled and pregnant at the time, then contracted meningitis and was in hospital herself. Needless to say, neither of them were able to make preparations for the new baby. So I set about collecting as much from Freegle offers as I could in preparation for the baby’s arrival. My friends were really appreciative for having that worry taken care of for them. They were also amazed, not knowing about Freegle themselves beforehand. As for me, it kept me busy and made me feel useful at a time when it would have been easy to feel helpless. I got to help without needing money, which I just didn’t have. Meeting so many truly wonderful people through Freegle really helped me through a very sad time. A healthy baby girl was born and my friend got to see her before he died. That was my first Freegle baby. Now it’s my turn. I want my baby to be a Freegle baby too, as a statement to the fact that my child is being born into a community of generous, principled and resourceful people.

  Claire , Leeds Freegle

• 

  Goods saved from the skip

  GreenCycleSussex is the Freegle group in Brighton, Cat who runs the group became aware of some local offices that were closing down.

  Much of the contents from the 4 storey building had been relocated and some given away to friends but when it came to their final day in the building there was still skips full of stuff left!

  So Cat popped over there to see if Freegle could help, she posted offers onto the group of all the office equipment left and in less than 3 hours all the goods were saved from the skip.

  Filing cabinets, many PCs, screens and telephones, hundreds of ring binders, mountains of office paraphenalia, furniture, books and stationery.

  A brilliant example of how useful a Freegle group and Freegle volunteers can be. Money saved. Goods redistributed. Waste avoided. Happy people.

  Julia in Brighton sent in this story about that day.

  “I have been having issues with my pc for ages and money is quite tight, I saw an ad on GreenCycleSussex for some unwanted PCs and went around to the address not thinking that there would be anything left.

  There was a lovely woman there who took me to a room and told me that I could take what I want and also a couple of really nice guys who gave me a couple of PCs and monitor and also a heater as well !!

  I then realised when I got home I forgot to ask for the password so emailed the group volunteer to ask for help. Cat then contacted the people from the office and got me the passwords for the PCs.

  Really a lovely experience, no haggling involved and everybody is happy and I now have a PC that works !!

  Would recommend to anyone, not only is it nice to deal with people on that level, it saves money in hard times and reduces unnecessary landfill everybody should do it, I am hooked !!!!!”

  Quote from Lisa at Environmental Protection UK (Brighton office) -one of the tenants vacating the office building:
  “Thanks for all your help Cat! So great to see so much stuff picked up by freeglers”

  Julia GreenCycleSussex

• 

  Table and seat now looking neat!

  Hey guys!

  I run the Thurrock Freegle group in Essex and i just gave away my garden furniture on the our group and wanted to share it’s story.

  About 2 years ago i bought a large wooden 6 seater table and two benches for my garden to give my two sons and myself somewhere to sit outside when it was nice.. Boys being boys and especially boys with xboxs and gaming pc’s, that never actually happened though and the table slowly started to feel sorry for itself and ended up weather beaten. I could never lift it and it’s benches to cut the grass as it was just too heavy so that never got done either!

  This week though i decided to offer it on our Thurrock Freegle group and i chose a family to gift it to, they have 5 kids and so i sent the lady some photos of the table and i let her know it needed some TLC. She was more than happy to sort it out. Her hubby came to pick it up on Wednesday and by Saturday she had sent me some photos of the table all done up and looking lovely!

  I’m so glad that someone could take it off my hands and use it to it’s full capacity and i know i made the right choice picking that family, the lady was so nice. I LOVE Freegle! I’m also happy because my next door neighbours gave me a small glass table with two chairs so we’re all winners!

  I’ve sent you a before and after photo of the table and benches and you can see how well they have fixed it up. It looks like new again! I hope it serves them really well for many years to come!

  Jules Thurrock Freegle

• Greenhouse.

  I placed an ad for a greenhouse within 2 hrs I had received an email from a lovely gentleman who was kind enough to let me have his.

  My greenhouse is now up and running and am looking forward to some warmer weather to start my new hobby.

  Once again many thanks.

  Sharon Bishop Auckland Freegle

• Little circles

  I have a number of alternative parenting/pregnancy and birthing books that I’ve built up over the years (homebirth, lotus birth, empowering books, extended breastfeeding, natural child spacing, etc…) and although offered on Freegle, no-one has yet asked about them (well, one woman wanted one of them). This might sound funny but these books have become a bit like ‘my babies’ and I’ve really wanted them to go to a good home where they will serve someone else as they have served me at those times when I’ve had little or no support from the medical community. Those times when they’ve tried to push me into a hospital delivery, for instance, when I’ve gone ‘over’ my ESTIMATED due dates (they forget these are ‘estimated’), even right back to 1992 when no-one in my community was having homebirths anymore (at that time) and the midwives and doctors were trying to get me to forgo my homebirth in favour of something ‘safer’ (in their opinion. As it happens, the ONLY time I picked up an infection during childbirth that, in the past, would have killed me was AT the maternity hospital, along with several other women at the same time. I’ve had no problems whatsoever with any of my 3 homebirths).

  Anyway, a lady from Freegle wrote to me this morning saying she’d seen the list of alternative birth/parenting books I had on offer and would I consider donating them to local branch of The Hypatia Trust, which serves a local community of women – to support and empower them in their choices. It seems perfect! There, LOTS of women will have access to them… just what I wanted! These are books you won’t find in bookshops unless you specifically order them and even then, some of them will be hard to get hold of as they’re not average mainstream books. So I went to their webpage just now and saw that their website has been ‘built’ by my old dentist! Just funny how these circles present themselves – all these things (my old dentist, Freegle, alternative parenting, The Hypatia Trust) that seem so disconnected, now connecting up! :-)

  Another lady from Freegle contacted me afterwards and asked if I’d consider donating them to an organisation called the ‘Cornwall Natural Parenting & Slingmeet Group’ where actually I feel they’ll be much better placed (as the first lady said when I talked with her about it to see if she’d mind – The Hypatia Trust tends to have an older readership so they may not reach the people I hope they will)…. I’m just off to tell the second lady that yes, they can have the books!

  Maya Penzance freegle