Dear Sir,

ON Monday I was lucky enough to be able to drop into the Harlow community school uniform exchange shop in the Harvey centre. For anyone who is unaware, the purpose of this is that the store takes in donations of old school uniform and then makes these available at a small cost to members of the public.

From what I could tell virtually every school was represented and the number of patrons who were using the store was testament to how popular an idea this obviously is. With the news today that energy bills may cost the average family up to £3500 per year, this community initiative is made even more important and timely as our costs of living soar just before the children return to school.

I think a huge debt of gratitude must go out to Laura [whom I met] and her team of volunteers who were preparing and organising clothing, and also the Phoenix Resource Centre who I’m led to believe donated the space. Without these people, this initiative wouldn’t have got off the ground and there would be families across the town who wouldn’t have been able to afford uniform. I also think that it says a great deal about community driven initiatives like this, very much like Harlow Soup that is organised by the wonderful people at the community farm, simply relying on the people of Harlow helping one another when more central assistance might not be as forthcoming.

As someone who has worked in schools for many years, I was blown away by what I saw, people’s kindness and a community spirit to support one another. Long may this continue.

Neil Coster