Buxton Baby Bank Started as a middle-of-the-night idea, born out of frustration and being in lockdown for far too long.
During the Covid Pandemic, I was pregnant with my second child. With being ‘high risk’, I was unable to go out anywhere, and also had another very young child to take care of. Baby clothes were not considered ‘essential items’, so clothing shops were shut down, and it was pretty difficult to source things for a new baby.
I still had a lot of things from when my daughter was born, so I was hoping to be able to use some of them for my son. But of course, there was so much I needed. And I didn’t have a lot of space in my tiny end of terrace house on Fairfield road.
So I started to swap with other parents on Facebook. I was arranging doorstep drop-offs and collections. Then my partner went into the loft and found all of the boxes of my daughter’s baby clothes that I’d forgotten about. So I started putting bundles of these clothes together and gave them away for free on Facebook, or swapped them for other baby things I needed. The response was phenomenal. So many people, in the same situation as me, needed things for their babies. So it got me thinking… there must be a way to be able to repurpose these things. Clothes babies have grown out of, prams waiting to hold another small baby, toys and books waiting to be played with. I did some research and discovered that Baby Banks were a thing. But, the closest one was Sheffield. There was a gap, covering the High Peak.
So it was a bit of a lightbulb moment. And so, Buxton Baby Bank was born. I approached Lia Roos, from the Residents of Fairfield Association – the oracle of community support. She then showed me how to get the ball rolling, and introduced me to other organisations and awesome people like Jo Gregory from Hummingbird Hubs in Glossop.
Then came the miracle of storage – Jo and Ollie Taylor from Buxton Community Church invited me to use their space as a hub for the Baby Bank. I could now move everything I’d been swapping and accumulating in my kitchen to the church and start work on helping more and more people. From there I expanded the project. Started a Facebook page, got some wonderful volunteers, and we blossomed.
We have a tree at the Baby Bank. It’s a badly drawn picture of the tree with lots of scribbles and not a real tree. But it’s where we plan how the project is growing. It started at the roots, with the people who got us going, to becoming a constituted group (with thanks to Deb at High Peak CVS!), getting insurance, policies, and framework. Then the branches. With all of the different plans we have in store for the community. We’re not just a clothing bank. We have everything a family would need for a baby. That includes equipment, food, toys, and so much more. We now conduct weigh, stay and play sessions every month. And we have the support of so many professional organisations.
There are lots more branches on the tree, yet to grow leaves. We hope to start antenatal classes and parent education, as well as to work with different agencies to provide services that are so needed in the area. We have created a community, which I am so proud of. The generosity of the public has been overwhelmingly wonderful. I have an amazing network of volunteers who have also become my best friends. I can’t wait to see what this year brings for us.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being here for us”Baby Bank Customer