At last, Crowthorne’s very own charity shop, COATS, opened its doors again last Thursday, after many weeks of lockdown.
It was raining quite a bit, but well before opening time a queue had formed outside the shop’s new (temporary) premises in their Centre on Pinewood Avenue.
First in the queue outside was Jonquil, who had arrived twenty minutes before the opening time at 9.30am to be sure of getting in.
Jonquil had been one of the last customers to leave on the day the COATS shop on Crowthorne High Street closed in March, and had been looking forward to browsing again in her favourite Crowthorne shop.
“It’s Crowthorne’s Harrods,” she says. “It’s the first port of call if you need anything around the house.
“Kitchen things, linens, buttons, toys, clothes – the £1 rail is amazing – accessories, books, CDs, jigsaw puzzles, electrical goods. It’s all here.”
Jonquil was a regular visitor to the High Street shop; two or three times a week, usually.
“You never know what you’re going to find,” she says, “It’s an Aladdin’s cave. And the volunteers are so friendly and helpful.”
When her friends visit from southern California, they love to visit the COATS shop too; they were excited to hear on Wednesday that it was about to reopen.
So, Thursday, June 18, was Ladies’ Day at Ascot, the 205th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, and the reopening of the COATS shop. Hooray.
The shop is open every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9.30am to 12.30pm for shopping and donations.
Sadly, the centre is closed for its usual activities.
For more details, log on to www.coatscrowthorne.org.uk
DAVID WILSON
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